We're Starting At The End
by SomethingMoreCreative
Summary: The end of the world happens just like it would any other day, leaving Percy stumbling on his own until he runs into Annabeth. But the world isn't that kind, and building a new life is hard when it keeps crumbling at his fingertips every step of the way. Zombie Apocalypse AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, guys! This is my new multi-chap fic, and I'm thinking that we're going to have maybe 20 chapters or so. Expect me to update on Wednesdays every week. If I change the update day, then I'll let you know. Please don't harass me with requests to updates bc it's super annoying. Thanks.**

 **I want to thank my amazing beta Shay for helping me so much with this fic. I would be garbage without you, sweetheart, and I owe you so much fr. She also made the amazing cover using some of viria's art. Head over to tumblr for more info. I post sneak peeks there too, so you might want to check that out someday.**

 **Also, if you want to chat with me about this fic or anything else, my tumblr ask box is probably the best way. The link is on my profile!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus,_** **anything from** ** _The Walking Dead,_** **or anything else that you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**

 _-7222015-_

Percy thinks that it's ridiculous that Annabeth carries a guitar with them. It makes too much noise sometimes, and the thing is going to get one of them killed one day.

Even though he jokes about it, he doesn't think it will actually happen.

Ω

Annabeth wakes him up with a kiss and presses her fingers to his lips when she pulls back to signal for silence. She's already got their gear packed up when Percy glances around. There are also a few walkers a few hundred yards away. They should pass by swiftly, but any small noise could make them realize there's food just inside an abandoned house.

(When they pass, Annabeth teases him that she was afraid his snoring would bring them into the house. He scowls at her and splashes her with some water from his canteen. She kisses him again after she finishes laughing.)

They've been together for a few weeks now, ever since everything went to shit. Percy had been just a normal guy in high school on his way to having a swimming scholarship for school when the outbreak happened. His mom had been gone to the grocery store, and Percy had been on the phone with her when the screams started. He hadn't ever seen her again.

After a few encounters with the walkers (and a few more near death experiences), he packs up a backpack with some clothes, his toothbrush, and some of his mom's stuff before hitting the road. It's hell for a few weeks, and he barely sleeps at all then. He passes by a few people here and there, but he finds out that riding solo is the safest option.

He's in a pharmacy when he meets her. Well, when she throws him against the wall and presses a knife to his throat, staring into his eyes and demanding to know how he knew she was here. He stumbles through his answer because _damn,_ she's pretty, and it's been a long time since he's seen anyone and—

She must feel the same way because she presses her lips to his without another thought, curling into his arms when he wraps them around her. He's starved for human affection (damn, he's starved for human _contact_ ), and it feels really _nice_ to have someone with him.

She could be a goddamn crazy person, but that's when Percy thinks that you have to be to survive in this new world.

Later, they're camping out in the break room of the pharmacy, eating some stale bread and crackers, talking quietly. Apparently, she was living in a group home with some other girls, and when everything started going dark, she jumped out of her window and never looked back.

Annabeth spends the night curled in his arms, and when he wakes up the next morning, she asks if they can stay together. There are tears in her eyes as she speaks, but there's a look that's there too that says she would be fine on her own.

Percy doesn't want to be alone anymore. He tells her that she's stuck with him, and she laughs in relief.

It's rare that she leaves his side after that. (Which is good because he never wants her to anyway.)

Ω

They meet a few people as they travel. They're not heading anywhere in particular, but Annabeth thinks that it would be best to get away from the big cities where there are a lot of walkers. She grabs a map and draws a line out to the middle of Montana and claims that's where they should head. She wants a place to hunker down and wait it out, to build a _life._

Percy has everything that he needs when she's by his side. But it would be nice to be able to sleep at the same time, he guesses.

The people—they aren't great, but there's really nothing wrong with them either. Sometimes when they come across people with a camp, they stay for a night or two, but Annabeth always wakes him up in the middle of the night and tells him that it's time to go. They never stay long enough to make any other connections or relationships with people, but Percy doesn't feel like they need to. He's got everything that he needs as long as Annabeth is breathing.

But then—he starts to regret the fact that they're all alone.

It's been a rough couple of weeks. Since the weather has started getting colder, it seems like more walkers are moving around. It also seems like they move in bigger groups now, and Percy has seen them tear down houses and buildings just from the buildup. It's fucking scary, and he doesn't want to think about it.

They've been hiding out in a small cabin somewhere in the middle of the forest for a few days when a herd (that's what Annabeth has named them in a big group) passes through.

But they manage to escape. It's hard to fight off the walkers, and Annabeth breaks her ankle on their way. He's not really sure how they make it, but Percy just picks her up and _runs._

She has to yell at him that it's finally safe to stop.

They find an old house in a small subdivision, and Percy clears out the two walkers that wander upstairs while Annabeth sits guard by the door. After he blocks the door and windows, he drags one of the mattresses from downstairs and puts it in the floor in the corner of the room. Annabeth is silent, and Percy is still clenching his jaw. Once he's finished making sure that the house is okay, he carries Annabeth over to the mattress and lays down facing away from her. He feels her hands on his shoulders a second later, and then she's hovering over him and kissing him and—

Percy can feel the tears leaking out of his eyes as she kisses him, but she's here and she's _alive_ and they're together. They're still together.

When Percy wakes up the next morning, Annabeth is bandaging her ankle. She's finishing just as he sits up beside her.

"You should have left me," she says suddenly. "You could have been killed."

"I would rather be dead than be without you," Percy says harshly.

Annabeth flinches and fixes him with a glare. Her gray eyes are sharp, and she's clenching her jaw. _"Don't_ say that."

"There's no fucking way I would ever leave you behind, Annabeth," he says. "So you might as well get used to it."

"Percy, if it means you _dying,_ I want you to leave me behind. Do you understand? When this happens next time—"

"There's not going to _be_ a next time." His voice is hard and final because he doesn't want to hear this. He _isn't_ going to hear this.

She stares at him. "Percy. You know as well as I do that we can't last forever like this. It's only the two of us and we can't—"

"Stop talking, Annabeth."

"Percy—"

 _"_ _Stop."_

She's quiet until Percy starts talking again.

"Annabeth, I know that the world is a shitty place, and I know that we're barely surviving now, but I'm here with _you,"_ Percy says fiercely. "As long as I'm with you, I'm fine. I would rather be dead with you than alive without you, do you understand me?" He grabs her shoulder to pull her closer.

"You don't think I want that too, Percy? But do you know how much it hurts to think that you could have died last night because of me?" She turns away from him. "I love you too much for you to die because of me. When I say to leave me behind, you fucking _leave me."_

Percy doesn't know what to say because that's the first time that she's ever said that she loves him, and _god,_ this feeling in his chest is so heavy but at the same time it's light and he never wants it to go away and—he just loves her so fucking much.

He pulls her into his arms and presses his lips to every part of her skin that he can reach, whispering, "I love you too, I love you too, oh god, I love you" over and over and over.

They hide out in the house for a few weeks until Annabeth's ankle is a little better. There are still a lot of walkers in the area though, so they don't stay long. Percy steals a car from a garage and raids all of the houses he can get to. Once the car is packed, he grabs Annabeth from the house, and they hit the road.

Annabeth is digging through the glove box and console while Percy drives. A few minutes later she asks, "What's your favorite band?"

It's been so long since he's thought of anything like that, and he smiles at her before he says, "Fall Out Boy."

She laughs, "Well aren't you in luck."

Percy is confused for a second, but then she's brushing dust off of the radio and slipping a CD into the player. His face splits into a grin when he hears the familiar notes.

Annabeth laughs again and takes his hand, threading her fingers with his.

Ω

"Percy, I'm so glad that I found you."

Her voice is breathy when she whispers it, and his hands freeze where they were unclasping her bra. Her shirt is already folded neatly at the foot of the mattress (Annabeth doesn't like to throw their clothes around when they don't know when they will find something else), and Percy is in the middle of trying to forget everything around him except for her when she starts talking.

He pulls back so he can kiss her on the lips and rest his forehead against hers. He whispers, "Me too, Annabeth. I love you so much."

She lets out a deep breath, and Percy ducks his head down to press his lips to her collarbone. Her necklace glints against her tan skin, and Percy reaches up to rub his thumb across the small, silver 'A.' Annabeth doesn't wear any other jewelry, but they had been in a house when Percy found it, and it just looked so much like Annabeth, he had grabbed it and handed it to her that night when they were getting ready to go to sleep. She hasn't taken it off since then.

Annabeth hums happily when his lips hit that sweet spot behind her ear, and she pushes her hands down his chest to his belt, undoing the clasp and pulling him closer.

Ω

Percy isn't sure why there were so many people in a damn convenient store when the world ended, and he doesn't know where all these walkers keep coming from.

He's holding his weight against one door to keep them out and using a knife to cut into the brains of the walkers that are coming through the second door. His gun is tucked into the waistband of his jeans, but it's so loud, it would probably just make it worse. Annabeth is digging through some drawers across the room, looking for some batteries and anything else that they could use. They're too short on supplies as it is, and it's going to be hell trying to get out of here.

"Are you almost done?" He shouts, slicing down one of the walkers and kicking it backwards.

"One more drawer!"

Percy grits his teeth and shoves his body back harder against the door, shoving more of the walkers off of it. It's barely another second before they swarm again, but Percy manages to grab the other door and pull it shut, closing them in the room.

"Annabeth!" Percy shouts, using his body to hold back the door.

She turns and grabs a thick, metal pipe before tossing it to him. He slides it into the door handles but keeps his body weight against the door.

"How does the backdoor look?" He chokes out, shoving his shoulders back harder.

She disappears from his sight for a second, and his heart jumps in his chest.

She's back another second later, and her blonde hair has fallen out of its ponytail. Her eyes are hard, and her mouth is set in a frown. She says, "All clear! Let's go!"

"Get to the car! I'm right behind you!" He yells.

Annabeth grabs the backpack she had brought in with them and runs for the door, and Percy gives her a second before following her. He's not sure if the pipe holds the doors, but he's not taking the time to turn around and check.

He dashes toward the door and nearly runs over Annabeth. She's bent over a desk, digging for something, and Percy grabs her by the hips and hauls her up. Her arms jerk, and she has something big in her hands that hits Percy in the shins as he shoves her forward.

Thankfully, they make it to the car without any other incidents, and Percy jams the car into drive.

He drives for a while before he finally looks over to Annabeth.

"You risked our lives for a _guitar?"_

She jerks her head up to glare at him. "We were fine. There weren't any walkers outside, and you were right behind me. It's not a big deal, Percy."

Percy is so mad that he doesn't say anything else to her until later that night.

They're camping out in the middle of the woods, and Percy is sipping from a bottle of water when Annabeth comes out of the tent. She's dragging the guitar behind her, and Percy looks up at her when she stops in front of him.

"Can I sit with you?" She asks quietly. Her curls are still hanging around her face, and Percy reminds himself to look for ponytail holders and rubber bands when they raid the next place.

He nods, and she claims the space next to him.

He knows that it's dumb to be mad at her, but he usually always gets like this when they have a close call with the walkers. He hates to think about losing Annabeth, and when it almost happens… He doesn't handle it well.

She fumbles with the guitar, pulling it up into her lap and tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

"Do you even know how to play that thing?" He asks. His voice is rough.

"You know how I told you that I lived in a group home before?" She says, looking up at him.

They don't talk about their past much, but Percy remembers everything that Annabeth has ever told him. And it would be hard to forget about her not having a family and stuff anyway.

He nods.

"Well, my first roommate had one, and she taught me how to play it. When she turned eighteen and left, she gave me the guitar to keep. I can play pretty much anything now," Annabeth says, twisting some of the knobs on the neck of the guitar.

"Can you play me something?" He asks.

She finally smiles up at him and scoots to sit in between his legs with her back to his chest. Percy brushes her hair away to press a kiss to her shoulder, and Annabeth starts strumming the guitar.

He smiles against her shoulder a few seconds later because he recognizes the song. "Fall Out Boy?" He asks.

"You said it's your favorite band," she breathes.

Percy slips his arms around her waist and holds her tight, staring off into the forest and waiting for reality to come crashing down around them again.

 **A/N: See you guys next week! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's Chapter 2! Remember, I'm thinking there are going to be 15 or 20 chapters for this story. I update once a week on WEDNESDAY. If I change the update day, I'll let you know.**

 **Thanks to seawedebrain for being a hella awesome beta. I couldn't do this without you, Shay.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus,_** **anything from** ** _The Walking Dead,_** **or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**

 **Warning: This chapter is a bit sad.**

 _-7292015-_

It's not long before reality finally does crash down around them.

The moment they pull up outside of the abandoned mall, Percy gets a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hesitates before opening the car door and following Annabeth to the building.

Just before she opens a door, he grabs her by the shoulders and says, "I've got a bad feeling about this, Annabeth. Let's just keep going."

She shakes her head, peering up at him. "No way. We need some new clothes, and we're running low on food too." She must see his troubled expression because she says, "We'll be quick, and then we can find somewhere to camp before it gets dark."

She doesn't wait for him to answer before she ducks inside. Percy doesn't have a choice but to follow her.

The inside of the mall is really dark. Without regular maintenance, some of the ceiling tiles have fallen in, providing small patches of light here and there. Some of the stores have already been looted, but most of the place still has a lot of the original stuff in the stores. They come across a few walkers, but they're always able to hide until they pass.

They duck inside a clothing store, and Percy stands guard while Annabeth stuffs their backpacks with clothes. Percy jumps when she reaches behind him to check his jean size, and she breathes a laugh against his skin before disappearing into the store again.

They've stocked up on food and clothes, and they are on their way out when they hear the moaning.

Percy risks glancing back, and his heart drops to his stomach.

There's too many walkers to count.

Percy grabs Annabeth's hand, and her eyes harden when she sees them. She starts running, pulling him along too until he catches up.

His heart is beating in his chest, and his blood is rushing in his ears. He can hear Annabeth breathing, and her hand is so tight in his, it will probably leave a bruise.

They turn a corner and run into another crowd of walkers.

Before Percy can do anything, Annabeth shoves him to the right and shouts for him to run. One of the walkers is close enough to grab the back of his shirt, but Percy jerks away and stumbles after Annabeth.

They're in a store, and Annabeth shoves him to the ground behind a row of clothes. He watches as she kicks away one of the walkers that is too close and then as she slams the metal store gate to the ground. Walkers are already swarming it, and it probably won't hold against the weight for very long.

Annabeth slides down next to him and clutches his shirt desperately, running her hands over his body. Her eyes and voice are both frantic when she says, "Did it scratch you? Are you okay? It didn't bite you, did it? Are you—"

Percy grips her face in his hands. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm okay."

She nods, "Okay, okay. We need to go."

He nods along with her and gets to his feet, pulling her up with him. He pushes his backpack back onto his shoulders and tugs Annabeth toward the back of the store. The walkers gathering at the gate make it groan under their weight, and Percy doesn't want to find out how long it will last.

They tear through the back of the store, looking for something, _anything_ to get them out of here. Percy never lets go of her hand, but they're not finding anything and—

A loud _pop_ distracts them, and Percy gives her a horrified glance before she sets her jaw and pulls him into the dressing rooms.

She checks each one of them, and Percy pulls out his gun when a few of the walkers start flooding the small room. There's too many of them though, and Percy is getting ready to turn to Annabeth and kiss her one more time before—

Suddenly, Annabeth grabs him by the back of the shirt and yanks him into the last dressing room, slamming the door behind him and locking it.

His voice is shaky when he says, "Annabeth."

She shakes her head. "No. Not yet, Percy. We're going to be fine."

"How—?"

His voice gets drowned out by the moans and scratching behind him. There's just a thin layer of wood separating them from the walkers now, and this could actually be it before—

"Look," she says, pointing to the ceiling.

Percy wants to cry when he sees the air vent.

"Put me on your shoulders," she says.

He does, and Annabeth reaches the air vent easily, throwing their backpacks into it before she grabs the edge of it to pull herself in. Percy boosts her by the sneakers, and then he starts to wonder how he's going to get up there.

The wood door is splintering and cracking open now, and several hands are reaching in toward him, clawing at the air. The door isn't going to last much longer.

"Percy! Give me your hands!" Annabeth shouts to get his attention.

He stretches up on his toes, and Annabeth grabs his wrists, locking their arms together. She grits her teeth and starts to pull him up.

He grabs the side of the air vent with one arm just as one of the walkers grabs his ankle. He kicks it off and hauls himself up, collapsing on top of Annabeth.

"Hi," he breathes, looking down into her gray eyes like he's seeing her for the first time.

"Oh my god," she murmurs, pulling him down until his lips are on hers.

"Hey, we're together," he whispers against her lips. "But we need to go right now."

She nods and hands him his backpack before slipping out from underneath him and crawling ahead of him.

They crawl slowly through the air vent. Percy cringes every time that it creaks because he really doesn't want to fall down right into a circle of walkers. Annabeth checks every air vent that they come to, and she finally picks one that they're going to drop down out of. He hopes she's right.

He goes down first, mostly because of Annabeth's bad ankle, but he wouldn't have let her go down without him anyway.

For a second, he thinks that Annabeth's plan worked.

She drops down beside him and sends him a grin. He's in the middle of returning it when something jerks her backwards.

She screams the next second, and the walker that had her drops dead to the ground from the bullet Percy put into its head.

Walkers flood out from the store behind them, and Percy grabs Annabeth from the ground before he starts running. He's not sure which way they came in or where they are but—they just have to get away from the walkers.

She's sobbing and yanking on his shirt, and Percy stops behind a wall and falls to the ground with her.

"Are you okay?" He demands. "You're okay. Come on. We have to get out of—"

Tears are rolling down her face, and she takes his chin in her hand and turns his head to the side.

Her shoulder is bloody. He can see the bite mark.

Percy starts to cry.

He drops his head to her chest and clutches her closer, shuddering when her arms wrap around him tightly for half a second until she shoves him back.

Annabeth isn't crying anymore, and there's a hard look in her eyes again. She grabs his backpack from him and riffles through it, shoving some stuff from her backpack down into it. She dumps out all of the clothes that she gathered for her and places her empty backpack down into Percy's.

He's hyperventilating now. He's not leaving her.

"Percy," she says finally.

"No, Annabeth," he cries. "No, no, no, _no._ You'll be fine. We'll be fine. We have to stay together."

She unclips her necklace from her neck and clips it around his while she says, "No, Percy. You have to get out of here. You're not dying here too."

"Annabeth," he sobs, dropping his head back to her shoulder.

"Listen to me, Percy," she says sharply. "You're going to run to the end of the mall where we parked and get in the car and drive, do you understand me? You're going to drive until you run out of gas, and then you're going to get a new car and keep driving. And when you find some good people, you need to stick with them and build a _life."_

"N-not without you," his voice is too wobbly to understand, too broken up by his hiccups.

" _Yes_ without me. I love you too much for you to die here," she says, standing up. She trembles slightly, but glares down at him. "Now get up."

He doesn't move.

 _"_ _Percy Jackson, get up this second."_

He wipes his nose and gets to his feet.

She put his backpack on his back and threads one of her hands through his hair, pulling his head down until their lips meet.

She kisses him for _one, two, three_ seconds, but Percy knows it's the end when she pulls him in for a hug.

"I'm going to run this way and create a distraction so you can run out and get to the car, okay?" She says, gripping his shoulder and smoothing down his hair over and over. It makes Percy think of the nights that he spends curled up on his side with his head in her lap while she takes watch. "Okay?"

He can't catch his breath, but he says, "I love you."

Her gaze softens a bit, and her voice is gentler than he's ever heard it. "I love you too, Percy. I've never loved anyone as much I love you, and I am so, so, _so happy_ that I found you and got to spend the rest of my life with you." She pauses, "But now you have to go."

"No," he cries again, shaking his head.

She shoves him. "Yes. You have to go, baby. You have to, okay?

When he doesn't move, she shoves him again. Percy struggles to keep his hand in hers.

She turns her head away from him when the moaning and groaning gets louder. The walkers are closer now, and they probably don't have much time, but Percy's _not_ leaving her.

"Percy, _go._ I'll never forgive you if you let both of us die here," she says stubbornly.

"But Annabeth—"

"No, _but Annabeth,"_ she argues, placing a hand over his heart. "You're not dying here. I am, but you're _not._ You would do the same for me, wouldn't you?"

"Annabeth—"

 _"_ _Wouldn't you?"_

His bottom lip is shaking, "Fuck. Yes. I love you."

She darts forward and presses another kiss to his lips before she backs up from him completely. "I love you too, Percy. Now go."

She turns on her heels and runs away from him.

Ω

Percy can't stop sobbing.

He's running through the mall, tearing down any of the walkers that threaten him or get in his way. He can hear Annabeth yelling from somewhere behind him, but he doesn't turn around. Even though he left his heart back with her, his head just tells him to keep moving. He thinks that it might be her voice telling him that, but he's too upset to notice.

His backpack is heavier than it was before, and his lungs are aching from not being able to catch his breath.

Just as he's reaching the door that they came in, he hears a loud guitar.

When they were raiding for clothes, Percy remembers passing by a music store. He saw Annabeth eyeing it, but she never said anything about going in.

He hears her singing a few seconds later.

A fresh round of tears fall down his face when he recognizes the Fall Out Boy song that she sings him every night before he goes to sleep. Her voice sounds as beautiful as ever. Percy wants to turn around and run right back to her.

He grips the side of the door and stabs a walker in the head when it gets too close to him.

He feels like he's going to throw up. He feels like he's going to die.

He is going to die if he keeps standing here.

He wants to die.

Annabeth will be _so_ pissed if he dies right now.

Percy lets go of the door and stumbles the rest of the way to the car. He can still hear Annabeth singing and playing, but her voice is getting shakier and he needs to hurry before she starts—

She starts screaming just as Percy is pulling away. He clutches the steering wheel tight, presses the gas pedal to the floor, and hopes for the best because his vision is blurred with tears.

 **A/N: See you next Wednesday! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, guys! Here's chapter 3. Some of the story properties are going to change in the future, so keep your eye out for that. I know that last chapter was pretty sad, and in the next few chapters, we're going to change directions so keep an open mind. Thanks for all of the reviews, and I am glad that you guys are enjoying the story. Come talk to me on tumblr sometime.**

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title comes from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**_

 _-852015-_

He hasn't slept in days. He doesn't think that he's eaten anything lately either, but he can't really remember.

Everything has been blurry since the mall. He's either crying or screaming—or both— and he's been throwing up every time that he remembers her voice or smile.

He does what she told him to though. When his car runs out of gas, he shuffles through the glove box and console, taking the map and a few other supplies that they had. When he's going through the trunk of the car, he finds her guitar. Percy stares at for a long moment, remembering the way she used to drag it out at night to play him a song so he could go to sleep. Her voice would be soft and steady, and right as he was falling asleep, she would whisper an _I love you_ into his ear.

Percy takes the guitar and smashes it against the ground, leaving it in a pile of wood chips and strings.

But he grabs the Fall Out Boy CD from the player and puts it in the case before carefully hiding it in his backpack and hitting the road.

Ω

It takes Percy a few weeks to get used to being on his own again. He was with Annabeth for so long, he got used to her watching his back so he could sleep and eat. Now, he has to be on guard all the time again.

It's making him really tired.

His backpack also gets really heavy, so he sits down one night by the small fire he's built and cleans it out. He hasn't bothered to look in it since that day in the mall except to throw some stuff in it when he needs to.

He pulls out his canteen and some batteries that he found earlier today. After that, he grabs the CD and sets it on his leg so it won't get dirty. There's two pairs of new jeans and three blue t-shirts that Annabeth picked out for him too, and Percy feels sick to his stomach when he sees them.

He pulls them out and carefully sets them on the ground, trying not to ruin how she folded them.

He pauses when he sees Annabeth's knife and a piece of paper at the bottom of the bag.

She didn't even have a _weapon_ when she was in the mall. She gave it to him.

It's been a few days since he cried, but Percy lets a few tears drip down his cheeks when he takes her knife in his hand. He sets it next to the CD before he reaches for the piece of paper.

Seeing her handwriting makes his chest hurt on a whole new level. He's seen it a few times before, when she was making lists for their next supply run or that one time when he caught her jotting down song lyrics onto a scrap piece of paper.

The fire is dull, but there's enough light that Percy can make out the words.

 _Percy,_

 _If you're reading this, you either found it in your backpack and you're about to get really mad at me, or something happened and I'm not with you anymore._

 _(You're wrong about that by the way, I'm always with you.)_

 _I just wanted you to have something to keep. I'm hoping you have my necklace and knife too, but I guess it depends on what kind of situation we were in, huh?_

 _I also wanted you to know that I am so incredibly happy that I found you. I wouldn't have made it on my own for very long, and being able to be with you and love you was the greatest thing that I've ever gotten to do in my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Nothing._

A few more tears roll down his face, and he thinks, _Me too, Annabeth._

 _Keep your head up, Seaweed Brain, and stay on your feet. You have to keep moving until you find some nice people. I know you can handle it on your own, but you'll be so much safer with other people watching your back for you, and who knows what you'll find out there. Just be safe, okay? And don't be an idiot._

 _Take care of yourself, Percy. I love you._

 _Annabeth_

When Percy finishes reading the letter, he carefully repacks his backpack. He puts the CD in between the jeans and tucks Annabeth's note into his pocket. That night, he falls asleep clutching Annabeth's knife in his hands.

Ω

It's been a few bad weeks. He's coming across more walkers now than ever, and he's had a few really close calls.

Not that he cares. At this point, the only reason he's still alive is because of the dreams.

He sees her. Whenever he falls asleep, it's like he's back with Annabeth. He can kiss her and talk to her and smile at her and just—he misses her. He misses how it used to be. The world is a shitty place, but when Percy had Annabeth it was _good._

It distracts him a lot now.

He's standing outside of an old machine shop when a few walkers flood out of the side door. They're stumbling toward him quickly, moaning and clawing at the air.

Percy is so tired that he just stands there for a few seconds.

And he really just considers it. It would be so _easy_ to stay here and just let the walkers have him. He would get to see Annabeth almost immediately. He wouldn't have to fight every goddamn walker that finds him. He wouldn't have to run. He could be with Annabeth and be out of this whole mess and—

Before he can make a decision, someone jumps in front of him and slashes the head off of the nearest walker.

Percy's jaw drops open, but the sudden movement breaks him out of his trance and he pulls Annabeth's knife from his jeans and hacks away some of the other walkers. He twists his body until he's standing at the person's back, cutting down the rest of the walkers threatening them.

After they're gone, he turns around, and the person that found him spins around too. Percy blinks at the tall girl that's wearing a furious expression. Her dark hair is twisted into a braid, and she's wearing a purple tank-top with a pair of jeans and boots. She has a black jacket tied around her waist too.

A beautiful sword is clasped in her hand.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" She asks him, seething. Her dark eyes are lighting up, and it's kind of reminding him of the first time he met Annabeth. "Are you stupid? You know those things will _eat_ you, right?"

"Y-yeah, I just…" he stammers, trailing off.

She taps her foot like she's waiting on him to continue.

"I just couldn't decide if it was worth it," he finally admits, averting his eyes from her and reaching up to touch Annabeth's necklace around his neck.

She's still studying him when he looks back to her. Her expression has softened a bit, but there's still a wary look in her eyes, like she is wondering if he's mentally unstable or something.

"You're by yourself," she notes.

Percy flinches because that's the first time that anyone else has ever said it out loud, and _please,_ don't let him cry in front of this girl. He swallows roughly and nods. "Yeah. It's just me now."

She nods slowly and takes a few steps to the side. Percy thinks that she's going to turn and run away, but instead, she reaches out and jerks his backpack off of his shoulders.

She's already a few steps away, and by the time Percy lunges forward, she's already finished rifling through it. She holds it out to him just as he jerks it away, and Percy realizes that it made him nervous to see his stuff in someone else's hands.

"What the fuck?" He asks, jerking his backpack away from her.

She glares at him. There is kind of an apologetic look in her dark eyes, but Percy gets the vibe that she won't tell him she's sorry for it.

"Had to make sure you didn't have any other weapons," she explains. "I also need to know your story if you're going to be able to come to my camp. I might make the decisions, but there are a lot of people there, and I need to know that I can trust you."

"You… you have a camp?" He asks hopefully.

She raises an eyebrow. "How long have you been on the road?"

"Always. Since the beginning of the end of the world, I guess," he explains. "I had someone else with me for a while but—" he stops. His voice won't work anymore, and he thinks that he's going to be sick if he tries to—

But she doesn't make him say the rest of it. She sheathes her sword and nods at him. "Come on. I'll take you back."

"You're going to let me come back with you?" He asks, surprise lacing his voice. "I almost got you killed."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Yes, you did, but I can't just leave you here." She continues as she rolls her eyes, "Especially if you're going to just stand here until a walker eats your brains out. And you look horrible. The least I can do is give you a good night's sleep and a meal."

Percy doesn't really know what to say, and his chest is tight with hope and he hasn't felt like this in so long. He nods and breathes, "Thank you."

Her gaze softens for half a second, but she doesn't keep it for long. She looks around quickly, saying, "Let's go. It's going to get dark soon, and they'll lock the gates if we aren't back by sundown."

"Wait," he says. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?" She challenges.

It sounds foreign when he says, "Percy Jackson."

She studies him for a second. Her eyes are narrowed, and for some reason, her expression looks familiar. She says, "I would say that it's good to meet you, Percy, but it's actually a pretty sucky world if you haven't noticed. But for some reason, I feel like you have."

That sounds so much like a challenge, but Percy doesn't say anything. Instead, he waits.

"Reyna," she says finally. Percy figures out that she's talking about her name. "Now we have to go."

Ω

It's been a long time since Percy's been in a car. Since the last one he had ran out of gas, he never bothered with stealing another one. So it's actually kind of nice to just sit down while Reyna drives. It's nice to have a break for a few seconds, even if the girl in the driver's seat could be planning on murdering him and stuff. He decides it's not important.

He glances at her a few times. He still can't figure out why she seems so familiar; he's positive that he has never met her before. He notes that she's still just as fierce and stoic as she was earlier, and Percy wonders if she's always like this.

He really can't believe that she's taking him to her camp. He's been on his own for so long, he's actually really nervous about meeting and being around new people. But if it isn't good, then he can get a few nights to rest before hitting the road again. (Even if he doesn't want to. Even if he's tired of being alone. Even if—)

"You lost someone," Reyna says suddenly, jerking Percy out of his thoughts. "Someone important to you. That's why you hesitated when you saw the walkers. You had given up."

He sighs. "Not yet. Sure, it was… part of that, but really, I'm just _tired._ If I had given up already, I would be dead by now."

"Are you planning on doing that again?" She asks. She doesn't take her eyes off of the road, and Percy stares.

He takes a few minutes to answer, but when he does, he's completely honest. "I hope not."

Reyna nods. They sit in silence.

Ω

Percy's jaw drops when he sees the walls.

They're tall, built with old cars, scrap metal, and trees. They are also patched up so there aren't any holes in them, and he can see a crease in the wall that must serve as a gate on the other side. There must be a platform at the top of it because there are a few people standing and keeping guard. Over the walls, he can see a few buildings inside, and Percy's chest is tight again.

Reyna sees his expression, and she smirks at him. "Welcome to Camp Jupiter, Percy Jackson."

 **A/N: See you next Wednesday! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: You guys glad it's Wednesday? I'm pretty pumped about this chapter and the next few too! There's not as much action, but we're getting some development now, so pay attention! Some of the story properties are changing as the story continues, so also keep that in mind. If you wanna talk about it, hit me up on tumblr, and don't forget that I read all of the reviews you guys leave, but I usually only reply if one catches my eye.**

 **Hope you guys have a great day! Come chat with me sometime.**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy._**

 _-8122015-_

Percy is still staring up at the walls of Camp Jupiter in awe when they open. Reyna pulls the car through quickly, and the gates close back behind them as soon as they enter.

He can see the walls peeking up around some of the buildings that line the street. He can't see the end of the street, but it can't really be that far—maybe a half mile. It really looks like a small town out of a movie; he can see a building that is labeled 'Post Office' and another that says 'City Hall' a few yards down the street. There's an old Police Station right beside the gate they came in, and there's someone standing outside of it with a weapon. It must have taken forever to clear out all the walkers and put up these walls and—

Percy is jerked out of his thoughts when he hears Reyna open the car door. She steps outside, and Percy grabs his backpack, scrambling out of the car too.

They're greeted by two people who have obviously been waiting on Reyna. The guy is really muscular, with his hair shaved down to his head. He looks Chinese too, but Percy isn't positive. He's holding a rifle in one hand, and there's a bow strapped across his back too. His shirt says U.S. ARMY on the front of it, and his biceps might seriously rip it open in a few seconds. Even though he's totally ripped, he looks about Percy's age.

The girl is a lot smaller though. Her curly hair is tied back with a purple bandanna, and her dark skin is flawless. She's probably a few years younger than him, but for some reason, Percy thinks that she could kick his ass without a problem. The big guy says something to her, but she shushes him immediately, walking over toward Reyna and Percy.

Percy looks over to Reyna, but her eyes are scanning the wall after it closed behind them, like she's looking for any flaws. She jerks her gaze to the people walking up to them.

She nods in greeting. "Did they get back with the supplies?"

The guy nods too. "Yeah. The food haul is pretty good, and Blake says he wants to take out another party to get the rest of it before it goes bad. They brought back some medical supplies too. We decided to lock them up in the basement until you got back."

"Great. Blake goes tomorrow morning," she announced. She finally looks over at Percy. "This is Percy Jackson."

The girl smiles at him and holds out her hand immediately, clasping his in both of hers. "Hi, Percy. I'm Hazel."

He smiles weakly, but he feels like he's going to throw up. "Hey, Hazel."

Hazel smiles again and gives the guy beside her a quick shove until he steps up and holds out his hand. His face is kind of red, but he says, "Hey. I'm Frank."

Percy nods and shakes his hand.

"I found Percy on my scouting mission. He's staying for the time being and will let us know if he plans to continue staying here," Reyna says formally, interrupting the introductions. "Hazel, if you could find him a bed near you and Frank that would be great."

Hazel smiles at him again before she nods and walks off back toward one of the buildings.

"There are almost twenty-five people inside these walls," Reyna starts, gesturing around her. "And there's one thing you have to understand if you want to stay here."

Percy studies her.

She takes his silence as a cue to continue. "Frank and I are the leaders of this camp. We will not tolerate any disloyalty or disobedience, got it? Failure to comply with our words will result in me kicking your ass before I drop you outside the wall."

Percy nods. He can do that. (He hopes.)

"Alright," she says. "Frank, can you show him around? I've got to check on a few things before dinner."

"No problem," he says signaling some other guy to come and get the car that they brought into the gates. "Come on, Percy."

Ω

Despite the fact that he could probably snap Percy's neck in half a second, Frank is actually really nice and Percy really likes him. He seems like a straight up guy, showing Percy around and explaining everything to him as they go.

Apparently, Frank ran into Reyna on the road a few months ago. He and Hazel (his girlfriend; Percy smothers the _aww_ that almost falls out of his mouth) had been running from place to place, and when they ran into Reyna, they decided to stop. They found a small downtown square of a small city a few miles off of the highway, and they holed up there while drawing most of the walkers away. After they finished cleaning it out, they built the walls, and Reyna found even more people to help them. Somewhere along the way, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna became the leaders, and when the walls were finished, they named it Camp Jupiter.

Frank says that they get a few walkers crowd them from time to time, but the walls haven't let them down yet and Reyna is constantly making plans to expand and reinforce the walls.

Percy is actually really impressed too. This camp must have taken so much hard work, and it's insane that they're surviving here like they are. It's really awesome, and Percy is starting to think that it would be nice to stay here.

Percy and Frank meet up with Hazel before sitting down in a big area with a few tables. Most of the tables are already really crowded (he's met most of these people already, and all of them seem relatively nice), but Frank leads them toward a table at the back, where Reyna is standing up. She's watching most of the other people eat, but she's also talking to a dark haired guy that Percy hasn't met yet. She sends him on his way before sitting down just as they do.

"Blake is leaving at first light," Reyna says to Frank. "I'm going to be on guard when he leaves so I'll have the gate then."

Frank nods. "Are you going out tomorrow?"

"No," she says. "I've been out of Camp for too many days in a row already. I'll stay tomorrow and figure out the supplies that Blake is bringing back. Percy can help me."

He looks up surprisingly at his name. He blinks and says, "Okay."

She nods at him before getting up. "I'll find you tomorrow. Hazel, if you'll show him to his bed after you eat that would be great."

"Yeah, absolutely," Hazel agrees, taking a sip of her water.

"Frank," Reyna jerks her head. "If you'll walk with me for debriefing."

Percy wonders what they have to discuss. He wonders if it's about him. Oh well. At least they're giving him a bed and food.

He and Hazel talk quietly. She's really nice, and Percy finds himself talking more than he thought he would. She doesn't ask him a lot about what it was like on the road, but he thinks that she notices when she gets too close to a question that might make him upset. He's really grateful for that.

After they finish eating, Hazel walks him across the camp and into an old apartment building. It's a few stories high, and she explains that most of them live here. There's a twin building right beside it that must have housed more people before the end of the world, but Hazel says that they use that one for storage. Most of the other people live on the higher levels in the first building, but Frank, Hazel, and Reyna all have rooms at the end of the first floor. Hazel leads him to one of the rooms close to the end of the hall.

She points to the door opposite of his. "Frank and I share this one, and Reyna's is that one," she says, pointing at the door a few feet away. "You can come get me if you need anything tonight. I already put some water and towels in you room. Reyna has got some people working on getting running water, so this is the best we can do now."

Percy opens his door and almost groans. There's an actual _bed_ in the room. With a couch and a chair too. And a table. This is heaven.

He nods happily, "No, this great. Thank you so much."

She smiles at him. "No problem, Percy. Well, I'll let you rest. You're probably exhausted. Let me know if you need anything tonight."

He stutters through another thank you before walking inside and closing the door quietly. Carefully, he sets his backpack down on the table and washes his face before slipping out of his shoes and jacket.

He falls down onto the bed a few minutes later, moaning at how awesome it feels.

Percy pulls Annabeth's note out of his pocket and reads it twice before curling up on his side and falling asleep.

Ω

He wakes up the next morning to someone knocking on his door.

He's awake in two seconds as he rolls out of bed and tucks Annabeth's knife into the back of his jeans before he walks over to the door. He is completely silent when he yanks it open.

Frank is standing there, and the door startles him when Percy pulls it open. His eyes are wide, and he blinks at Percy.

"Sorry," Percy says, backing away from the door a bit. "I'm still kinda jumpy."

"Uh yeah," Frank nods. "Sorry, I should have remembered that."

Percy nods too, and they fall into an awkward silence.

Frank breaks it when he clears his throat. "Oh, um, Reyna wants you to help her today. She's already downtown figuring out the supplies, but she told me to come get you later so you could sleep a little longer. She figured you were tired."

"Oh," he says. "That's really nice."

"Yeah, but she's ready for you now, so we should probably hurry," Frank explains.

Percy nods and darts back into the room, shoving a hand through his hair as he goes. Maybe he can find someone that can cut it sometime soon. He grabs his gun and shoves it into his jeans beside Annabeth's knife. He also grabs his jacket before heading back toward the door.

On their way, Frank hands him a small bag filled with some dried meat and nuts. Frank tells him about some of their new operations going on, and Percy nods along, commenting on some things but mostly just listening.

They have a really good set up here. Frank says that the walls have never been breached, and they have some people working on running water and food control. Apparently, they accept new people when they turn up outside the walls, but Reyna has never brought anybody back like she did Percy.

Frank is still talking when they walk past the meal area where they ate yesterday. Percy is listening carefully when someone bumps into his shoulder.

He's ready to apologize for not paying attention, but when he looks up, there's a blonde guy standing in front of him with an ugly sneer on his twisted face. Percy realizes that this guy ran into him on purpose, and his confusion melts into anger when the blonde guy's friends start laughing and snickering.

"Oh, sorry," he says spitefully. "You're the new guy that Reyna picked up off of the side of the road, right? I don't remember when we started picking _up_ trash."

Frank sighs and says, "Octavian—"

But Percy interrupts him because if he's going to stay here, he can't be hiding behind Frank and Reyna all the time. These people need to know that he can defend himself and that he's not some wimp that's taking advantage of the walls and the leadership here.

He stands up straight. "Yeah, actually, I am. So what's your problem? Did Reyna pick you up off of the side of the road too, or does she only do that with people she actually likes?"

Octavian's sneer falls off of his face, and his friends stop laughing suddenly. His faces darkens, and he takes a step closer to Percy so he's right in his face.

"I don't know who you are, but—" he starts, shoving a finger into Percy's chest.

Percy grabs his hand and twists it away, listening to the _pop_ of his fingers. His voice is low when he says, "I'm Percy Jackson, and you better stay the fuck away from me unless you change your attitude."

Octavian shrinks away from him, and Frank's voice is smug when he says, "Get out of our way, Octavian. Percy and I have somewhere to be, and I don't think Reyna is going to be too happy to learn that you were the one that made us late."

With another glare thrown at Percy, Octavian and his friends turn and slink away.

Frank looks over at Percy and raises an eyebrow. "Impressive."

He shrugs and follows after Frank when he starts walking.

Ω

Percy thinks that the room is empty until Reyna suddenly pops up from behind a stack of boxes.

"Sorry we're late," Frank starts, eyes sweeping around the room. "But Percy had to put Octavian in his place before we could get here."

Reyna glances at him and scowls, "What?"

Frank shrugs, "Octavian bumped into us on our way over here and pulled that "mightier than thou" crap. He said that Percy was garbage that you brought home."

"Bullshit," Reyna says, shaking her head. "I've got Gwen keeping an eye on him because something seems off about him lately."

Frank hums. "He doesn't know about the settlement though. I'm positive."

Reyna nods. "Just keep an eye on him. We don't have enough resources moved over there yet, and the walls haven't been reinforced. Percy and I are going to divide these supplies to take there, and tomorrow we can move some of it over."

Percy frowns, "Why does Octavian not know about this other place you guys have? Is it like this one?"

"Yes, it's built in the same style, but it's located a few miles south of here. When Frank, Hazel, and I first met up and found this place, we started building the walls, but when we started scouting for supplies we found a better area," she explains, twisting her braid behind her shoulder. "It's kind of like this, but the buildings are a bit bigger, and there's a military warehouse stocked there. We already built the walls around it, and I have two people stationed there with radios to keep me updated."

Percy's mind is reeling. After all of that time he spent on the road by himself and with Annabeth, he never ran into anyone like Reyna and Frank. It's just… it's _amazing._ They're building a _life_ here.

Suddenly, his heart feels heavier, and he misses Annabeth more than ever. This is what she had been looking for. She wanted somewhere to survive and live. It's not fair. It's not _fucking fair_ that he found it without her.

Then he realizes that Frank and Reyna are both staring at him. Reyna's mouth is moving, and she's saying his name.

He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry. I just… sorry."

She studies him for a second before she shrugs and turns to Frank. "Go back to the wall. I told Blake to come in at the south side, so keep everyone away from those supplies until we get to do inventory with them."

Frank nods and starts to head out, "I'll send Hazel down here with some lunch later."

"Thanks," Reyna calls after him, ducking down behind the boxes again.

Percy watches Frank disappear up the steps, and he's left alone in the basement with Reyna.

It's silent for a few seconds, and Percy can hear her shifting things around in a box. Then Reyna leans up and says, "Can you count and keep up with numbers or would you be better at moving boxes?"

His face is a little red when he says, "Moving boxes."

"That's what I thought." She stands up and points to a stack of boxes on the far wall. "Just move those over here with this stack, and when we finish with these, you can move them to that wall over there."

Percy nods and grabs the nearest box he finds.

They work in silence. When Percy finishes moving boxes, he watches Reyna count out a few boxes of food. Some of the other boxes have soap while others have ammunition. It's weird, and there's not really any order to it.

"Where did you find this stuff?" Percy asks, too bored to curb his curiosity.

She glances up at him, like she's debating on telling him or not. Finally, she says, "We raided a grocery store and a police station a few months ago. I stored them down here while we were building the walls, and I think that most of this is going to be taken to the new camp."

Percy nods, looking away from her while she goes back to the boxes. He pushes a new one in front of her when she finishes with the old one, and Percy catches himself staring at her.

He forces his gaze to the wall until she tells him to get more boxes.

 **A/N: Leave a review, and I'll see you next Wednesday!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey, guys! Hope everyone has had a good week! I started back at school today, but I'm really excited to post this chapter for you guys. Next weeks chapter is my favorite chapter out of all of the ones I have written (I'm up to 12, I think), so I'm also excited for it.**

 **Now, pay attention to the story properties. I know a lot of you guys think this is a Percabeth story, but Annabeth has been removed from the character list. It sucks, I know, but I'm really excited about where this story is going. If you don't want to read it, then go check out my other Percabeth stories. Thanks, guys.**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy._**

 _-8192015-_

It's been almost two weeks since Percy's seen a walker. He's gaining weight back, and he doesn't feel as miserable as he was before he ended up here.

It's just—Camp Jupiter is really _awesome._ Percy's been able to go to sleep at a reasonable time at night. He can walk around without worrying about running into a walker and having to cut its stupid head off every two seconds. He can laugh at one of Frank's jokes when they're guarding the wall or eating dinner. It's—it's really great.

But it doesn't take him long to notice that Reyna and Frank don't really hang out with anyone besides him and Hazel.

He also thinks that it's kind of weird. He's barely been here for two weeks, yet he works with either Reyna, Frank, or Hazel every single day. Most of the other people in the camp work all day too, but they always get orders from Frank that morning while Percy discusses the day with Reyna.

Percy always eats with them too. He's the only one that gets to sit at their table, and sometimes, Reyna even lets him tag along when they go on perimeter checks for their debriefing. They give him a rifle, and Frank teaches him how to shoot it one morning. They even talk about the top secret settlement they have in front of him, which is kind of weird since no one else in the whole camp even knows about it.

He just doesn't get how they trust him so much. Why do they let him hang out with them? Why do Reyna and Frank both look at him while they're debating something like they actually want his opinion? Why is he so important when he hasn't even been here for that long?

He starts to wonder about it so much that he asks Hazel when she's cutting his hair.

She hesitates for a second before she says, "Well, they really like you."

"Yeah, I kinda had that figured out," he jokes. He's gotten to know Hazel a lot better over the past few weeks, and he's decided that she's really nice. "But they're not like that with other people."

"They think that you're different." She changes the subject, ending the conversation. It's like she doesn't want to talk about this at all. "How short do you want this again?"

Percy answers her question and lets the other discussion go.

Ω

He's been moving some weapons over to the basement of the City Hall building where Reyna keeps the rest of the supplies from the police station for the past few hours. The sun is just now setting, and everyone else is already eating dinner at the pavilion. Since he only has a few boxes left, he figures he might as well finish before heading over to get something to eat.

Percy walks the two boxes he has in his hands over to the basement, setting them down quickly and locking the door behind him as he goes out again. He had Hazel helping him earlier, which was a lot easier because Reyna didn't want anyone down in the basement, but Percy let her go ahead when her stomach started growling. He doesn't mind doing it by himself.

He's walking back toward the police station when he sees a figure dart into the alley on the other side of the street. He doesn't recognize them from this far away, but something makes Percy hesitate.

A loud groan assaults his ear, and something claws at his back before he twists away.

He rolls to the ground, eyes widening when he sees the four walkers that are _right there_ and stumbling toward him quickly.

His heart crawls into his throat because _did the walls come down?_ Was the camp about to be overrun?

Percy's not that far away from the pavilion, and when he glances around again, scrambling backwards to get away from the walkers, he sees the figure standing just inside the shadows of the alley again.

"Hey!" Percy calls out desperately. "Help!"

They sink farther into the shadows, leaving him alone with the walkers.

Gritting his teeth, he rolls back to his feet, grabbing his gun and knife from his jeans. One of the walkers is close enough to grab at the front of his shirt, but Percy presses the gun to its forehead and pulls the trigger. He uses its body to shove away one of the others before twisting around to stab the other in the head.

There's two more left, and Percy can hear screaming from the direction of the pavilion. He doesn't even have time to pray that they're alright before he has to stab the walker in the head and shoot the other one in the second before it bites him.

He takes a step away from the walkers' bodies, taking a deep breath before he hears someone calling his name.

Reyna, Frank, and a few other guys are running down the street before him, and while Reyna and Frank stop in front of Percy, the other guys fan out around them, using rifles to scan the area.

Reyna reaches out toward him, grabbing his shoulder and running her eyes over his face and body. There's confusion and alarm in her eyes, but he thinks that he can see _relief_ there too. Her voice is rough when she says, "Percy, are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm okay," he says with a nod. He risks taking a glance around, but the figure that was in the alley is gone.

Reyna must notice that he's preoccupied. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," Percy says with a shake of his head. He doesn't want to tell her about the mystery dude in front of the rest of the people. "I was just moving some stuff to the basement, and when I came back out into the street, the walkers where right on top of me. It was weird because I didn't even hear them coming."

"Only four?" Frank asks, looking down at the bodies.

"That I saw," Percy says.

Before anyone can say anything else, Blake comes back out from around a corner of a building. "Reyna, there aren't breaches in the wall at this spot."

Her eyes narrow. "Three of you go on a perimeter check. Report back to me immediately. Gwen, the rest of you get everybody into the dorms, and set up a guard at the door and at the top of the building. I'll come back and tell you when we can come off of lock-down."

Gwen nods, grabbing the rest of the guys and heading back toward the pavilion. Blake takes three of his own and jumps the wall, starting on a perimeter check.

When they're all gone, Percy tries to keep his voice as normal as possible when he says, "Was Octavian at dinner?"

Frank doesn't seem to notice the meaning behind his question because he shakes his head, "I didn't see him tonight."

"Do you think—?" Reyna starts.

"I don't know what I think," Percy interrupts because even though Octavian has been glaring at him ever since that first day Percy was in Camp, the last thing he wants to do is accuse him of something that really was an accident. "But I know that there was someone in the alley across the street watching me fight those walkers."

Reyna studies him carefully for a few seconds. "Let's check the south gate," she says finally.

They walk down the street in silence, and Percy calms his racing heartbeat, trying to get his breathing back under control. Adrenaline is racing through his veins, and he doesn't think he's going to sleep tonight. It's been a long time since he's had to kill any walkers, and he really wasn't expecting it today.

The south gate is used mostly by Reyna and Frank. It faces the settlement that's a few miles away, and they keep cars parked in the parking lot behind the police station that sits beside the wall. There usually isn't even a guard posted down here.

As they get closer, Frank shines one of this flashlights onto the gate because it's completely dark now. There's a latch undone at the bottom of the gate.

Percy's breathe catches in his chest, and he feels dread spread through his body. Somebody _did_ let the walkers into Camp.

"It was a breach," Reyna says suddenly. Frank shuts the flashlight off. "We'll tell everyone that there was a mistake when the last supply team came in and the gate was accidentally left open."

"We know who did it, Reyna," Frank says. "Let's just get Octavian now and toss him outside."

"We _think_ it was Octavian," she corrects. "But we don't have enough evidence. He has too many supporters in Camp right now. If we exile him, we could put ourselves in danger," she explains, studying the rest of the wall. It's so dark now, Percy can barely see her face.

"But do we really want him in here with us if he did this?" Frank asks.

Percy nods, "We can keep an eye on him until he does something worse. We just need to be careful."

Frank and Reyna both nod now, and they start back off down the street again, heading back for the apartment building where everyone is waiting for them.

Ω

There aren't any more encounters with any walkers in the camp. Octavian keeps his distance from all of them, sneering at Percy and laughing with his dumb friends when Percy notices. Reyna, Frank, and Percy have a meeting with a few of the older people in Camp, and they put Gwen on him as a detail just to keep an eye on him.

But things get better. Sure, Percy tries to pay more attention now, but it's still a hell of a lot easier than being outside on his own. And… he's not really sure that he could be on his own again. He likes these people too much; Frank, Hazel, and Reyna… they just seem like _family_ now.

He's lying in bed one night, trying to go to sleep when he figures out why Reyna seemed so familiar that first day that he met her.

She acts just like Annabeth sometimes.

It's actually kind of scary—Percy will be on guard duty with her or walking the perimeter or something, and she'll say something or toss him a glare that looks _so much_ like Annabeth that he almost laughs and calls her that. It's weird, and Percy wonders what it would have been like to have the two of them meet, but for some reason, Annabeth and Reyna don't coexist in his mind very well. Like, just the _thought_ of them doesn't get along.

He has a hunch on why that is, but he doesn't ever let his mind go there.

She's really intimidating, but the closer Percy gets to her, the less she acts like that around him. She talks to him like a normal person now, meeting his gaze and asking for feedback and advice from him.

He likes it. He likes being around her and talking to her. He likes—

Percy closes his eyes and reached up to touch Annabeth's necklace, dragging her smile out of his memory and ignoring those familiar dark eyes that linger in his mind.

Ω

He's doing a perimeter check with Frank one afternoon, talking and laughing quietly while they walk around the walls, checking for stray walkers and anyone who might have found their camp.

"Hey, Percy?" Frank asks suddenly, breaking the small silence they had been in.

"Yeah?" Percy asks distractedly, peering into the distance through the scope of his rifle.

"Were you with someone before Reyna found you?"

Percy freezes for a second, wondering where this question came from, and Frank apologizes quickly, taking the question back.

Once he gets his breath back, he finds himself telling Frank everything.

He listens with wide eyes, apologizing as soon as Percy is finished talking.

"No, it's fine," he says shakily. "It's… probably good to talk to somebody about it."

Frank nods along, but he doesn't say anything. His expression is hard, but his eyes are sad. Percy's grateful that he doesn't say anything about it.

When they get back inside Camp, Percy catches Frank holding Hazel a little bit tighter and closer than normal throughout the rest of the evening and dinner. His eyes are heavier than they were before, but he smiles down at Hazel like she's his whole world. Percy wonders if he used to look at Annabeth like that.

It makes Percy smile, and he feels less empty when Reyna stops at his shoulder and tells him about some of the new plans she has for the settlement.

Ω

Percy's eating breakfast by the wall, watching some of the guys come off of night guard duty. He's supposed to start his guard duty in a few minutes, and he likes to watch the sun come up and the camp wake up slowly in the mornings. It's nice, and it reminds him that he's not so alone.

Reyna steps up to his shoulder suddenly, and Percy turns his gaze to her, taking in her perfect braid and her peaceful expression. There's only been a few times that he's seen it like that because she usually wears this really fierce look, especially when she's trying to figure something out, which is almost every few seconds.

"Want to get out of Camp today?" She asks, not taking her eyes off of the wall. "I'm going on a supply run, and I know you've been stuck inside for a few days."

"What are we looking for?" He asks as an answer, watching her eyes narrow when Dakota stumbles as he takes a few steps toward the ladder of the wall and tries to climb down.

"Nothing in particular," she explains. "I've depleted most of the other buildings in the area, and the ones I haven't scanned yet have too many walkers so we'll have to wait those out. We're going a few extra miles out today. I have a place in mind. Blake is bringing the car out."

Percy nods.

"Do you need anything before we leave?" Reyna asks.

He shakes his head. He already has his knife and gun tucked into his jeans, and he has Annabeth's note tucked into his jacket pocket, so he's got pretty much everything that he needs with him.

"Good," she says just as Blake pulls the car up. Reyna nods to the door, and she settles behind the steering wheel. "Because we're out of here."

 **A/N: See you next Wednesday! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters so far. You'll see why. Don't forget to come talk to me on tumblr bc that's the best way to get my attention. Thanks, sweethearts, and I love you all.**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy._**

 _-8262015-_

Percy's been staring out of the window most of the time, watching the scenery go by. Reyna has some CD in the player that he doesn't recognize, but there's a lot of guitar and drums in the songs. Sure, Percy loved Fall Out Boy before the fucking world ended, but he never really listened to anything anymore hardcore than that, so he's not familiar with the music that Reyna plays.

For some odd reason, he's thinking that this area looks a bit familiar. He dismisses the thought though, wondering where it even came from because every place looks familiar when the whole world is a wasteland.

They sit in silence, and Percy is surprised at how nice it is. He kind of expected this to be awkward between them, but it's not.

Percy's heart stops when Reyna pulls into a parking lot. His muscles tense up, and he stops breathing, shrinking back into his seat and wishing he could disappear into it.

He's going to throw up. He's going to die.

Reyna starts talking, but he can't hear her now. His ears are ringing, and no wonder this goddamn place looked familiar to him.

Percy can't breathe. He can't breathe at all, and Reyna says something else before she gets out of the car. He sees her take a few steps away from the car in his peripheral, but he can't take his eyes off of the fucking building.

It's the mall. Reyna brought him to the _goddamn mall_.

And suddenly, all Percy can see is Annabeth. Her face, her smile, her hair. He can hear her laugh, see her glare at him, watch her pull her hair up into a ponytail. He can feel her fingers on his skin, tracing over his arms and chest from where she hovers over him and whispers that she loves him. He feel her pull him closer when he gets ready to go to sleep at night, and he can hear her sing him to sleep with that same song every _fucking night._

Percy shakes his head, trying to shove the memories away and get his vision back. _Why_ are they here?

Reyna's walking toward the door already, and all Percy can hear is Annabeth telling him that they would be fine. They were just going in to get some clothes. They would find somewhere to camp after. Everything would be fine.

His body starts working again, finally listening to the signals that his brain is sending. They need to get out of here right now. They need to leave. Last time—

Percy jerks out of the car, nearly stumbling to the ground before he gets his feet moving the right way. He feels like he's going to throw up, but they _have_ to get out of here.

"Reyna," he chokes on his words, and his voice is hoarse. "We have to… leave."

"What are you talking about?" She asks, turning back to look at him and raising an eyebrow. "We could find so many supplies in here. It will just take a few minutes."

He shakes his head, walking toward her and begging her to stop. He can't get any closer to this building, _he can't—_

"We have to go. Right _now,_ " he says. His voice is a bit stronger, but the wind is ruffling his hair, and he _swears_ that he can hear Annabeth's voice in the breeze, tickling his ear and telling him to _leave._

"We're not leaving," she says. "We're going in to get supplies."

He shakes his head, but his throat closes up and his voice jams when he tries to tell her that they need to leave.

She starts forward again, but Percy reaches out and grabs her arm before she can move any closer to the building entrance. It's the _same_ goddamn door that he had to come out of _alone_ last time, and he's not going back through it.

His heart is beating faster and faster, and Percy feels nauseous. His chest just keeps getting tighter and tighter and—

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Percy?" Reyna asks crossly, jerking him out of his mind again. Her voice is angry, and her eyes are clouded with annoyance, like she can't believe that he's making this a big deal.

"We have to go," he says again. "We need to go."

Reyna opens her mouth to argue with him more, but before she can say anything, Percy hears something crash to the ground and groan. He looks over her shoulder just in time to see the door open and a gray hand reach out through it.

Percy's stomach churns as he watches Reyna stab the walkers in the head with her knife as they come near her. It's not that many, maybe two or three, and they probably heard them arguing, attracted to the noise they were offering.

There's a moment of silence when the last of the walkers falls to the ground, and he can see a bit of hesitation in Reyna's eyes before she sets her shoulders and she's about to make him go in there with her—he can't—he can't—he

Reyna steps back toward him just as one more walker steps out into the sunlight and—

Percy's heart stops.

He can't think straight. He's going to throw up. He can't fucking _move._

She's _right_ _there_.

 _Annabeth._

Percy's knees are weak. He's going to throw up, _he's going to throw up—_

He takes a step forward.

She's almost to him now, and her arms are reaching out and—

Reyna jerks him backwards, hauling him away from her, and Percy is too disoriented to fight back. He can't move his eyes from her, but then Reyna is shouting in his ear and it's all overloading his senses and—

He hears Reyna unsheathe her sword over everything else. She's stepped in front of him now, blocking his path to Annabeth. She holds her sword up, and Percy grabs her arm, tossing her sword away and shoving her out of his path.

She's screaming now, pulling at his arm to get him to move.

"Percy!" Reyna shouts in his ear, jerking on his arm and shoving at his chest to get him to back up. "That's a fucking walker that will _eat you!"_

Reyna keeps pushing him backwards, always just outside of Annabeth's arms, and he keeps his eyes glued on her. On Annabeth.

Except it's—he finally sees what Reyna is talking about.

Annabeth's gray eyes aren't there anymore. They're cloudy and red, like they're unfocused on everything, which isn't like her. Her tan skin has been replaced by gray cells everywhere that there isn't a scratch or bite. She's limping toward him, and there's a growl coming from her that sounds like every other walker that he's ever seen.

This isn't Annabeth. Annabeth is guitar echoes and Fall Out Boy lyrics and golden curls and _love._ But this? This… _thing_ isn't Annabeth.

Annabeth died saving him. She's gone, and this is just dead body. Another walker.

Percy shoves Reyna away from him, and she rolls to the ground. He lets it get closer and closer to him, and his heart is pounding so hard in his ears that he doesn't understand what Reyna yells at him.

Percy pulls out his gun, levels it at the walkers head, and pulls the trigger.

Annabeth's body falls to the ground at his feet, and Percy drops his weapon.

His knees are weak, and there are tears pooling behind his eyes. His legs wobble, and he turns away from the body right before his feet give out.

Reyna catches him before he hits the ground, and he clutches at her shirt, holding on tight and burying his head in her chest. He's sobbing now, and he crumples in on himself, letting her support all of his weight.

She's saying something, but she holds on to him tightly, keeping her arms around him and supporting his head. He feels her fingers slide through his hair while her other arm is twisted around his waist, keeping him up off of the ground.

Then she's moving them, and Percy still has his face buried in her chest so he doesn't see anything. She pushes him gently into the car, letting him curl up on his side and keep his eyes slammed close. He's clawing at his face and hair and throat and chest, but his heart is _fucking broken._

He thinks that he hears Reyna shoot the gun a few times, but then she's cranking the car and driving away. Percy pulls his knees up to his chest and cries, sobbing Annabeth's name because it just hurts _so goddamn much._

He's not sure how long it's been, but he's choking back sobs now. There are still tears rolling down his face, mixing in with his nose that's running, and damn, he feels like he's about to throw up.

"Reyna," he chokes out over his tears. "Stop."

She jumps on the brakes immediately, cutting the engine and jumping out of the driver's seat. He sits up, and she helps pull him out of the car. He can barely see her face through his tears, but then he's bent over and throwing up everything he ate for breakfast that morning. He can feel Reyna smoothing a hand over his back, keeping the other one on his side to hold him steady.

When he's finished, he leans back up, wiping a hand across his mouth.

Reyna keeps her dark eyes focused on his. She just looks so _alive_ right then that fresh tears roll down Percy's cheeks, and he ducks forward, pressing his face into her chest and tightening his arms around her waist.

She holds him tight and traces her hands over his hair until he can see again. He slowly gets his other senses back, like he's coming back into the world again.

He sniffles against her, opening his eyes and looking around. They're standing against the car in the middle of nowhere, stopped on the road somewhere. He wonders if Reyna knew where they were going, or if she was as freaked out as he was, prompting her to drive in a random direction. He wonders if they're near Camp.

Finally, Percy pulls away from her, wiping a hand across his face and standing on wobbly legs. He's still shaking, but he feels like he can stand up on his own now.

"I don't know how long I drove," she tells him quietly a few seconds later, looking straight ahead. "When all of the walkers started coming out of the building, I just grabbed you and drove."

He nods silently, wiping a hand under his nose.

There's a brief hesitation before she says, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Percy doesn't really answer, so she must take it as a yes because a few seconds later she continues.

Her voice is probably the softest tone that he's ever heard from her when she turns to him and asks, "Percy, that wasn't just a walker, was it?"

It feels like his throat closes up again, and his chest is getting tighter. But he manages to shake his head and look at her with a sad expression.

Reyna doesn't say anything, but she keeps looking at him, like she expects him to answer, and god, Percy probably owes her at least that.

"No, she… wasn't just a walker," his voice is quiet and wobbly.

Percy slides down to the ground, and Reyna follows him, sitting close to his side. She offers him her hand, and he slowly slips his palm into hers. Her hand is warm and comforting. Percy takes a deep breath.

"When everything first started going dark, I lost my mom at the beginning," Percy starts in a quiet voice. "So I hit the road on foot, going from place to place and looking for something. I was by myself most of the time, and I had never been so fucking lonely in my entire life. One day, I was raiding a pharmacy for some food, and this girl just comes out of nowhere and throws me against the wall, ready to kill me, but instead, she kisses me, and we stayed together."

Percy continues to explain about Annabeth, telling Reyna everything. Tears drip out of his eyes, and he shoves them away, smiling at some of the memories of her.

"We were…" Percy sniffs, wiping his nose with his free hand. "We were running low on food, and we really needed some new clothes. Annabeth and I stopped here, and there was just something about it that seemed off that day. I begged Annabeth to let us keep going and find something else, but she told me it would be fine. We… we got inside, and we were on our way out and…"

He takes another deep breath, choking back a sob and shoving his emotions away. His voice turns flat when he continues talking. "There were walkers everywhere. Annabeth got bit."

He hears Reyna suck in a surprised breath beside him, and her hand tightens around his. Her voice wobbles when she says, "Percy, I'm _so_ sorry."

He nods, "Annabeth made me leave her. In that mall. I left her there, and she shoved her knife down into my backpack so she didn't even have a fucking weapon. She kissed me and told me that she loved me, then she ran away from me, and the last thing I heard when I was running out was her screaming."

Reyna is silent beside him, but he can feel her gaze on his face. He doesn't meet her eyes.

"Percy, we wouldn't have gone today if I would have known about that," Reyna says softly.

He nods again, wiping his eyes because there are still a few tears leaking out of his eyes.

"Can we—" he hiccups and catches his breath. "Go home?"

Her expression lightens a bit, and she gets to her feet before pulling him up to. Percy climbs into the car slowly, and Reyna puts the car into drive and turns around, heading back toward Camp. She offers him her hand again, and Percy doesn't let go until they have to get out of the car.

Once they're inside, she hands him his gun back, and he climbs out of the car slowly, giving Reyna one last look while she waves off all of the questions from the guards about the missing supplies.

 **A/N: Leave a review! See you next Wednesday!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Come check me out on tumblr at somethingmorecreative1**

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**_

 _-922015-_

Percy murmurs a hello to some of the people around the pavilion as he weaves through them toward his table. He's been working with some of the guys today, helping strengthen one of the walls and guard against walkers so he hasn't seen Frank or Reyna since breakfast this morning.

It's been almost two weeks since the supply run at the mall. Percy's doing better now that he's not alone; he starts to feel like the world is caving in around him, he always finds Frank or Reyna right at his shoulder, ready to pick up the slack when he can't take it. Although they never officially say anything about it, but Percy can see the reassurance in Reyna's eyes when Percy starts to sink in on himself.

They're already sitting down at their table when Percy grabs a plate of food and slides down beside Reyna.

Frank and Hazel are all smiles now, leaning toward each other and whispering. Percy sends them a weird look, wondering what's going on, but Reyna reaches out and turns his head away from them. His jaw tingles where her fingers touch his skin.

She's wearing a smirk, but there's a light in her eyes that makes them sparkle. Her voice is low, and she shifts a bit closer to him to say, "It's their anniversary today. Frank worked all day so he could have the night off."

Percy smiles lightly, "Cool."

"Your hair looks good like that," she comments, glancing up at him before looking back to her food. Percy pretends that his heart doesn't start beating faster.

"Anyway," she continues, looking back to him and taking a bite of her vegetables. "I need you to come with me on perimeter check, and tonight you're on wall duty with me if that's okay."

He nods, "Yeah, that's fine."

They finish eating quickly, and they leave Frank and Hazel at their table, smiling at each other. Percy follows after Reyna, holding a rifle in his arms as they walk along the outside of the wall. They don't usually see any walkers on their checks, but he carries a rifle with them just in case.

"How long have Frank and Hazel been together?" Percy asks finally, running his free hand over his short hair. He had gotten Hazel to cut it again this morning, just for a small change.

"I found them almost a year ago, and Frank told me that they met when she moved in across the street from him when they were in elementary school. They've basically been together since then, so I guess it's been almost five years," Reyna said, sweeping the forest around them with her gaze.

"Whoa," he comments.

She nods, "I know."

They continue walking in silence. Percy scans the area with the scope on the rifle while he walks, and he sees Reyna turn the corner of the wall so he can follow her.

Before he gets around it, she shoves him backward, pressing her hand across his mouth to keep him silent. Her whole body is pressed against his as she holds him back against the wall. Her eyes are boring into his, and Percy wonders what the hell is going on.

She leans up a fraction of an inch to put her mouth at his ear, and her lips brush against his skin softly. Percy grits his teeth and suppresses the shudder that rolls through his body at the sensation.

"Walkers around this corner. Get your knife out," she says into his ear, moving away and darting around the corner without waiting for him.

Percy jumps into action, slinging the rifle across his back and grabbing his knife from his jeans. He sprints around the corner and runs to Reyna's back, jumping over one of the walkers as he goes before slicing it down.

There are barely a dozen of them, and Reyna finishes off most of them with her sword while Percy guards her back. She's a lot better at killing walkers than he is, even though he was out on the road longer. He wonders what she did before the world ended.

When the rest of the walkers are gone, she sheathes her sword and turns to him.

"Thanks for watching my back," she murmurs quickly, looking down at the ground.

He nods too quickly, and he tries to ignore the feeling in his chest or how fast his heart is beating now that she's in front of him again. His voice is embarrassingly low when he says, "You're welcome."

There's something in the air between them now that feels different, and Percy's not sure why. He doesn't really remember anything changing in the past few seconds, but it's obvious that it's not the same.

A part of him doesn't want to know what it is.

She doesn't say anything else. Instead, she turns away from him and walks alongside the wall. When they get back inside the camp, Percy heads to the wall for guard duty with a nod and a blush in her direction.

Ω

Percy is eating when Reyna tells him that she's going out of Camp.

"What? Why?" He asks as soon as he swallows a bite of meat. To Percy's knowledge, she hasn't been out of Camp since the last time they were gone and—where does she need to go?

"I'm going on a supply run," she explains, taking a sip of her water. "We need more clothes for winter this year, and we're running low on batteries and gas too."

He's kind of frozen for a second because the last time they left, Percy almost got them killed. Which sure, it was a pretty good reason, but still. He studies her for a second before he says, "Okay, I'll go with you."

She shakes her head and narrows her eyes. "No. You're staying here."

He reels for a second. "Is this because of what happened last time?"

Reyna frowns, but her eyes are a bit softer than normal, like she's afraid he's going to fucking break or something. "No, Percy, don't throw that in my face. It's easier and faster without other people getting in my way while I'm grabbing supplies."

"You can't go by yourself."

"I can, and I am."

"Reyna, that's dangerous," Percy says, narrowing his gaze at her too.

She rolls her eyes, "For god's sake, Percy, I've done it plenty of times, and I'm perfectly fine on my own. What do you think I was doing when I found you?"

He doesn't know what to say. "Let me come with you."

"No. You're staying here."

Frank and Hazel slide down across from them at their table while they're arguing, and they both study them for a second before Hazel asks, "Why are you guys fighting?"

"We're not fighting," Reyna says just as Percy throws a hand in her direction and tells them, "She won't let me go with her on a supply run tomorrow. I don't think she should go by herself."

Reyna rolls her eyes, "I can take care of myself. It's easier to get supplies and get back quicker on my own anyway. I'm going, and you're staying here. That's my final word."

Percy scowls at her, and she scowls back.

Frank clears his throat, "Percy, she's right. Besides, both of you shouldn't be out of Camp at the same time. It makes us look weaker. Especially right now. Gwen has been updating me on Octavian, and apparently, he's been having meetings with four or five others every few nights. I'm tracking his movements and I don't think anything will happen, but we still shouldn't

have too many people out of Camp at once when they know Reyna is going to be out tomorrow."

Hazel nods in agreement, but her eyes are soft. "Sorry, Percy."

He nods once, looking back down at his food. Reyna and Frank discuss the perimeter check for the night, and he doesn't say anything else for the rest of the meal.

The next morning, Percy gets up early enough to grab some rations and head over to the gate before Reyna leaves. She's already climbing into the car she's taking when Percy walks up to the window, leaning down so he can see her face.

"You're up early," she comments, buckling her seat belt out of habit.

He taps his fingers against the top of the car as he nods. "Yeah. I wanted to see you before you left."

She gives him a look. "I'll be back this afternoon, Percy."

"I know, I know," he says quickly. "I just… yeah."

She raises an eyebrow at him, but she doesn't say anything else about it.

The sun is just now coming up, and the early morning light is doing something weird to Reyna's eyes, making them sparkle more than usual. Percy is having trouble keeping his gaze away from hers.

Her voice is unusually soft when she says, "Okay, I have to go."

His throat is tight, and he nods again. "Yeah, yeah. Just. Be careful, okay?"

Reyna blinks up at him, and she says as she waves her hand for some of the guys to open the gates, "I'll see you in a few hours."

Percy's voice is low when he says, "Yeah. I'll see you soon."

He pushes back from the car, and Reyna gives him one last look before she presses the gas pedal to the floor and speeds out of Camp, leaving him standing alone with the sunrise.

Ω

He's taking a break from guard duty on the wall to eat lunch. His nerves have been all over the place since Reyna left this morning, but Hazel had pressed the pack of rations into his hands with a firm look before she went back to her work at the pavilion.

So Percy wanders around the inside of the wall at Camp, staying out of sight of most of the people and just checking the perimeter while he goes.

He's about to take a step out into the alley beside the library when he hears voices.

Ducking back against the wall, he prays no one heard him coming. The voices don't pause, so he figures it must be alright.

"Reyna has weapons stored somewhere in this Camp," a shrill voice is explaining. "We just need to find them before we plan anything further."

Percy's eyes widen when he recognizes the voice. Octavian.

"The police station," someone else suggests. It's some of the guys that Octavian hangs around with in Camp.

Octavian hums, "Those are under guard and catalogued every day. We couldn't manage to get any of those. Frank knows something is going on, even as dense as he is, the poor idiot."

Percy fights to keep still, even against the insults to his friend.

"Jackson knows," someone says. It's a different voice than the first one, and Percy wonders how many people are with Octavian on this.

"Yes, he does," Octavian agrees. "But I'm going to deal with him as soon as possible."

Percy presses closer against the wall, wondering what exactly this plan was.

"And Reyna?" Another voice asks.

There's a cold laugh from Octavian, "Reyna won't make it through the week."

Percy's chest tightens with rage, and he clenches his fists against the wall to keep from jumping out there and destroying every last one of them. He's seeing red, but he's not sure how many people are out there with Octavian. If they had guns, he could be dead in a second.

Tell me what you're planning, Percy prays, tipping his head back against the wall. Just say it.

"Why don't we just go ahead with the plan today while she's gone?"

Oh god. If they tried to overthrow the Camp while Reyna was gone, they might actually be able to do it. Percy's not sure if he could keep everyone alive and defend the Camp if they had guns and were planning on killing people to take over.

Relief floods through him when Octavian says, "Not today. Jackson has been on the wall all day, waiting for her to get back. He would notice if we tried to take weapons from the station today. No, we'll wait until the right time. A few more weeks at best."

There's a mutter of agreement from several other people, and Percy starts to back away in the direction that he had come to get back to the wall before they see him. But as he moves along the wall, his sneaker hits an old garbage can, making it rattle loudly.

Fuck, Percy curses inwardly, reaching out to steady the metal container.

"What was that?" He hears someone ask.

There's a slight pause that's filled with the outrageous sound of Percy's heart beating out of his chest before Octavian says, "Get back to the posts Frank assigned you today. I'll deal with this."

Percy looks around, slipping his gun out of the waistband of his jeans while he backs away. Just as he hears Octavian's steps echo against the empty alley, he spots a small alcove in the wall, and it's just big enough for him.

He holds his gun to his chest, finger ready on the trigger. Octavian walks out into the alley, but he doesn't notice Percy. The blonde turns in a circle, drawing his eyes toward the garbage can and then toward the wall.

He's not paying attention. He doesn't know that Percy is two feet away from him with a gun. He could pull the trigger right now and end all of this before it started and—

Before Percy can make a decision, Octavian wanders away, turning and walking back down the alley.

Percy listens until his footsteps fade, then he slips out of the alcove and heads back toward the wall, carefully tucking his gun back into his jeans.

Ω

He spots Frank and Blake standing outside of the police station, and Percy veers toward them, signaling for Frank.

He nods before sending Blake off. Percy takes his place next to him and tries to look as normal as possible.

"I thought you were staying on guard until Reyna gets back?" Frank asks.

Percy nods. He leans in close to Frank and says in a low voice, "I was taking a break for lunch and doing a perimeter check on the inside of the wall, and I found Octavian in an alley beside the library with his group. They were talking about raiding some weapons to use to take over Camp."

There's a slightly alarmed look in Frank's eyes now, but he must realize that anybody could be watching them because his face falls back to normal, like they were talking about who was going out on a hunting patrol instead of someone plotting to kill them. Frank says, "Today?"

Percy shakes his head, "No. They didn't give a date, but Octavian said sometime in the next few weeks."

Percy leaves out the part about Octavian planning on killing him, just because he doesn't need Frank worrying about his safety along with the rest of the Camp's and Reyna's. Percy can take care of himself.

Frank nods and looks around the camp, "We'll have a meeting when Reyna gets back. Just—watch your back, Percy."

He nods, "You too, Frank."

 **A/N: See you next Wednesday! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Before you read this chapter, I want you to check the story properties. And if you even think about leaving a review saying something about "Plz don't make this a Percy/Reyna story!111!", don't bother, got it?**

 **Thanks to the rest of you guys who have been supporting this story! I love hearing from you, so leave me a review or come over to my tumblr sometime! I'm in love with this story, and I'm super excited about the new chapters.**

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**_

 _-992015-_

It's late afternoon when Reyna comes back.

Percy stayed on guard duty for the rest of the day after he finished talking to Frank earlier. He's been trying to keep an eye out for Octavian and his buddies too, but he hasn't seen anything. He's not sure if he should be relieved or worried about that.

When he finally spots Reyna's car through the trees, it feels easier to breathe, and he calls out for the guys to open up the gate.

He jumps down to the ground, jogging over to her car while the other guys pull the gate closed. Reyna climbs out of the car, and she motions to someone to pull the car around. She turns around then, and her lips lift into a grin when she sees him.

He reaches out and pulls her into a hug before he realizes what he's doing. Her arms slip around him easily, and her whole body is warm against his.

It's been so long since he's held anyone like this, and his eyes close as he holds her. But when he opens them, he expects to see blonde curls, and instead, he sees a black braid.

He reels for half of a second, and his brain just can't catch up with his heart.

Percy pushes back from her abruptly and shoves a hand through his hair, feeling the blush across his cheeks. Reyna's arms fall to her sides, and she looks as confused as he feels. Her dark eyes are cloudy now, and Percy winces at her hurt expression.

"I'm glad you're back," he says, stumbling over his words a bit.

She cocks an eyebrow, "Are you? Because it doesn't seem like it."

"Of course I am, An—"

Percy stops himself before he says Annabeth's name.

Reyna takes a step back from him, and he can see the hurt written all over her face for half a second before the hard expression that she normally wears falls back over her face. She straightens her shoulders and gives him one more look before she starts to turn away.

He reaches out and grabs her wrist before she can leave. He says, "Reyna, wait—"

"I'll see you at dinner," she says, jerking her arm away and walking down the street away from him.

Percy bites his lips until it draws blood, wondering how he could have been so _fucking_ _stupid_.

Ω

He skips dinner that night. Not because of Reyna (well, not _entirely_ because of her), but he isn't really that hungry anyway.

He's sitting on top of the wall on the south side of Camp, which is one of the least crowded areas. They use this side to store cars mostly, but it's also a really good spot to look at the stars.

Percy remembers before the world fucking ended. He lived in the city, and it was always too bright too see the stars. He used to joke around with his mom that one day they would drive out to the middle of nowhere so they would be able to look at all of the stars.

Now he has all of the stars in the world, but it's not worth it because he's alone.

Which, he wouldn't be if he would just get his head together, but he's not sure why he always chokes up around Reyna. It's like—

Percy jumps when something hits his back, and he turns around to see Reyna at the bottom of the wall with a handful of rocks in her hand.

"Can I come up?" She asks. Her voice hasn't gone back to normal yet, but Percy knows that he deserves it.

He nods and turns his gaze back to the sky while Reyna climbs up to sit beside him. She settles a few inches away from him, and she pulls a pack of rations out of her jacket before pressing them into his hand.

"You skipped dinner," she says flatly.

"Wasn't hungry," he answers, avoiding her gaze.

She sighs a few seconds later. "Percy, I get that you lost Annabeth and I couldn't imagine having it happen like that, but I've had stuff happen too, okay? And I _don't_ appreciate someone playing around with my emotions and making me think things that aren't true."

Before Percy can come up with a response, she says, "Eat those rations," and jumps back down off of the wall, walking away.

He doesn't call out to her or got after her, but he does eat the food she brought him.

Ω

The next morning, Frank knocks on his door just as he's getting ready to go outside. He motions him down the hall, and they slip through a door in the back to get outside of the building. Blake is guarding the door, wearing his usual solemn expression, and he nods carefully to them as they go outside.

Percy's eyes adjust to the bright sunlight, and they're in some sort of garden. For him to have been in Camp for almost two months now, he's never seen this part. It's pressed right up against the wall, and it's not very big.

Reyna is already pacing the small length of the garden, clenching her fists together and setting her hand on her sword every few seconds. Her dark braid trails down her back perfectly, and her expression is hard.

He's reminded of the last time he talked to her. He wants to apologize to her, but he's not sure what for. And he's known her long enough to know that she's not the type to want a fake one just for the hell of it.

"Hazel's watching everyone at breakfast," Frank says. "She's supposed to radio me if Octavian doesn't show up."

Percy understands that they're meeting about Octavian just as Reyna starts to nod. She says, "Good," she tells him. "We can't predict when Octavian will try anything. Did you get some of the supplies moved?"

Frank shakes his head. "Too many walkers outside last night, but I have the cars packed and ready to go. Blake has some guys guarding the south wall watching for any activity so we can go ahead and move them when we get finished here."

"And the rifles I brought back yesterday?"

"Half are under the floorboards in the library, and the other half is going to the settlement in case we have to leave early," Frank explains with another nod. His eyes look tired, and Percy realizes that he must have been up all night moving things around.

"You need to rest," Percy says with a frown.

Reyna flicks a glance at Percy before she nods in agreement and continues pacing, "As soon as you get back from the settlement you need to sleep. We need to get the settlement ready before winter, but having to sneak around at night is slowing us down too much."

"Should we just deal with Octavian now then?" Percy asks. His voice is a bit darker than he meant for it to be, but he's _so_ fucking angry that some weasel like Octavian is threatening their safety. He's had enough danger to last a lifetime.

Reyna and Frank both cast him a look before Reyna shakes her head. "Too many variables. We don't know how many people are actually supporting him, and if it's more of them than us, some of us could die. No, we just need to lie low and wait it out."

"We can't stay here forever," Frank argues, fretting now. "At some point in the next few weeks we'll have to have someone go out on a supply run for gas and food."

"We can cut back on rations," Percy suggests. "Everybody in this camp has made it a few nights without eating."

To his surprise, Reyna nods along with his idea to his surprise. "We can cut back on supply runs too, just until we get a better idea of Octavian's plan. If we don't have anything in a month, we'll tie him up and drop him a few miles outside of Camp."

Frank and Percy both nod. Reyna doesn't look at Percy again before she brushes past them and out of the garden.

Frank gives Percy a weird look—like he knows that something is going on between them—but Percy doesn't acknowledge it. Instead, he nods to Frank and heads back inside so he can get to the wall for his guard duty.

Ω

The next few weeks are rough. They cut back on rations, so now their meals are just twice a day and smaller than they were before. The rest of the people in the camp are on edge too, so it makes it more difficult to keep everyone happy.

For the first time since Percy's been there, two people decide to leave Camp. It's an older couple that Percy has met a few times, and Reyna gives them a car and a nod before they leave.

The next morning, Percy's on guard duty, and he sees the woman from the couple wander back up to the wall. She's a walker now, and Percy is the one that has to pull the trigger.

When he tells Reyna and Frank later that night, they both fall silent. Reyna goes out and brings the car back, and she tells them that they hadn't made it half a mile before they were overwhelmed.

It's sad. Percy doesn't know how they can keep going like this. The three of them are having to stay up all night to move supplies around so Octavian won't see them doing it, and there have been a lot of walkers in the area lately, confining them to Camp. Reyna orders the gates closed, and at one point, they stay inside for three weeks before anyone goes out.

The weather is getting colder too, and it makes the Camp quieter. When people aren't working, they're in their apartment avoiding the chill on the wind that the fall months have brought along.

Percy hasn't seen much of Reyna lately. She avoids meals, but she walks around Camp on top of the wall, enforcing her presence. All of the times that he has seen her, her expression has been rough and mean, like she's waiting on someone to try something. It's scary, and Percy doesn't like it so he stays away.

One day, Percy's just gotten off guard duty on the wall, and he's walking around toward the south gate, avoiding everyone. It feels like it's been years since he's gotten out of Camp, and he just feels like he's suffocating and—

Percy takes a deep breath and looks around. The street is deserted, and really, no one would know if he just took a break for a few minutes.

He ducks into an alley between two buildings and heads for the wall. Since this section is made of old tires, it's easier to climb up. He takes another look around before he drops down on the other side of the wall.

His chest feels lighter right then, like a weight has been lifted off of him. He jogs into the forest, silently slipping between the trees.

It's just—the air is clearer out here. He's not weighed down by all of the people back at Camp that he needs to protect or take care of—he's not worried about someone trying to kill him (well, not anyone that's alive), and he can do whatever he wants and—

 _I could do it_ , the thought hits him through the trees. What would stop him? He could leave everything behind and run. He could leave all of the stress and threats and—

But he would be on his own again. He would be without a bed and food. He would be without his friends. Hazel, Frank, Gwen—

 _Reyna_.

Percy forces himself to stop. He's been running too fast, and he doesn't want to get tired too quickly.

He stops in the middle of the forest. The sun is setting quickly, and it's getting dark fast. He takes another deep breath.

He can't leave Camp Jupiter. He probably wouldn't make it two days on his own on the road again. And he… he doesn't _want_ to leave. Even though things have been rough lately, this is his life now. And he likes it. He doesn't want to go anywhere.

Percy turns around and runs back toward Camp, jumping up onto the wall and dropping back over before anyone sees him.

Ω

Percy's not really paying attention when he gets back to his room. He took another shift on the wall so Frank and Hazel could go to bed at the same time, and he's dead tired after running around outside of Camp today.

He closes the door behind him and stumbles over to his bed. He doesn't notice the figure sitting at the table until a voice cuts through the silence.

"Where did you go today?"

He freezes, yanking his knife out of his jeans and twisting his body toward the sound.

They light a candle, and then Percy can see Reyna staring at him.

He relaxes a bit, "Jesus, Reyna, you scared me."

She stand up and stalks toward him. Her expression is _murderous,_ and Percy stiffens up again.

Her voice is a growl when she says, " _Where. Did. You. Go?"_

"What do you mean?" Percy's heart is beating loudly. He prays that she can't hear it.

"I saw you jump the wall today. I thought I _told_ you no one leaves this camp."

He scowls, "I just needed some air."

She laughs without humor. "Yeah, so that means you should just jump the wall whenever you _fucking feel like it_ , right? Do you _know_ that it's dangerous out there?"

He grits his teeth. He's not stupid, of course he fucking knows—and _she_ knows _that._ "Yeah well, it's not exactly _safe_ in here anymore either, Reyna."

She scowls back at him before she turns away and heads for the door.

He grabs her wrist, "What's the big deal? I came right back. No one even knew I was gone."

" _Yes_ , but you could have gotten hurt, and then what would I have—" she stops suddenly and jerks her arm away from him.

"Reyna—" Percy starts, begging her to _stop._

"Just _forget it_ , Percy," she says bitterly. Percy hears her voice shake for a second before she catches herself.

She's gone before Percy can argue with her, leaving him standing alone in the dark and wondering how he keeps messing everything up so much.

 **A/N: Leave a review! See you next Wednesday!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Listen up: just because this is a Percy/Reyna story, that DOES NOT mean that I'm going to stop writing Percabeth. If you guys don't like Percy/Reyna, then stop reading this story. It's a simple solution, sweethearts.**

 **On the other hand, thank you for the rest of you who have been supportive! Those of you who are enjoying this fic make my day six hundred percent better. Come by my tumblr sometime!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead,_** **or anything else you may recognize.**

 _-9162015-_

After his last conversation with Reyna, he starts to keep his distance from her. It's hard to be around her and see her now. He's not really sure why, but he's got a suspicion that it's his goddamn feelings getting in the way again, and he's not ready to go back down that road. Look where it ended last time: with _her_ dead and Percy alone. No thanks.

He stops eating at their table, instead getting his rations and going up to the wall for his own watch. He only goes to meetings if it's necessary for him to be there.

But Reyna isn't dumb. She starts to notice.

He's sleeping in one morning after moving supplies to the basement all night when he hears his door open. He's awake and would normally sit up, but he thinks that he recognizes the stomping coming across the floor. Maybe she will leave him alone if she thinks he is asleep.

The cold air assaults his bare back when she jerks the sheets off of him. She shoves his shoulder, and her voice is as cold as the air when she says, "Get up."

He rolls over to look at her. She's already dressed in her usual outfit, jeans, boots, and jacket. Her hair is twisted into her braid, and she's scowling down at him.

"What's wrong?" He asks groggily, scrubbing a hand over his face and chest.

"If you think you can handle a few hours with me instead of running away, then I need you to come with me on a supply run," she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I thought you could handle supply runs on your own," he mutters.

Her scowl deepens, and she jerks the pillow out from under his head before tossing it across the room. "Are you going to help me or not?"

Her attitude is a lot colder than normal—probably icier than when they first met—but Percy deserves it.

He nods and sits up, "Let me get dressed."

She turns and walks toward the door. "Meet me at the south gate."

Percy sighs and shakes his head when she doesn't bother to hear him agree.

Ω

They're completely silent until they get out at a small shopping center. When Percy had gotten to the gate, she had already been in the car waiting on him. She didn't talk, and instead, they listened to some of that same music that Percy didn't recognize.

"Why are we here?" He asks as they get out of the car. He thinks that he recognizes this place, and yeah, he's pretty sure that it's close to the area where Reyna first picked him up weeks ago.

"I never got to finish scouting this place for supplies," she says. "I was on my way here when I found you, and over the past few weeks, there have been too many walkers to even get out of the car."

"I thought we weren't supposed to leave Camp." Percy hates how cold his own voice is.

She scowls at him, but she looks _tired._ Percy feels bad for throwing that in her face. She starts to get out of the car just as she says, "We're out of food."

Percy doesn't know how to answer. He hadn't realized that it was that bad back at Camp, and he hates making it harder on her.

Scrambling out of the car, he goes after Reyna into the abandoned grocery store. She grabs a shopping cart and motions for him to follow her.

He holds his rifle close to his chest, trailing behind her at her back and scanning around them every few seconds. Reyna drops some food and other supplies down into the cart every so often. He can't really hear anything other than them in the grocery store, and he thinks that they're alone.

He motions to Reyna before wandering off deeper down the aisles. It's dark inside the store, and there are a few places where the ceiling is leaking with water. Some of the aisles are turned upside down, but it seems like this store hasn't been bothered that much because most of the original products are still sitting on the shelves.

It's still quiet in the store. He can hear Reyna shuffling around and the squeaky wheel on the shopping cart rolling on the ground as she moves through the aisles.

But then Percy hears a big crash to his right, and the familiar moans and groans fill the air. He turns to the side to run, but he bumps straight into something.

He catches a second of blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale, white skin before Octavian is sprinting away and disappearing out of the door.

Percy has seen him around Camp a lot lately. It's been kind of weird because he never really saw him to begin with, but it's like Octavian has been making an effort to be seen working or helping the others, like he was trying to convince everybody that he was doing good things for the camp.

A familiar shout from deeper into the store catches his attention, making him drop his thoughts immediately.

"Reyna!" Percy shouts, jumping over some of the spilled boxes in the floor. He rounds one, two, three aisles before he finds her, hunched under a shopping cart and pressed against the wall. There are three walkers leaning over it, working their hands through the metal of the cart and toward her.

She spots him and shoves the cart forward to knock off one of the walkers. She yells, "Percy! My sword!"

She points, and he sees it laying just out of her reach behind one of the walkers. But before he can get to it, there's two walkers in his face, and Reyna is still yelling and—

Percy drops the rifle so it hangs over his shoulder, grabbing his knife and stabbing the first walker in the head, while kicking the other one away. He manages to kick Reyna's sword to her, and then a second later, she's up and swiping through them like it's nothing.

She wades over to him, but she's still fighting. There are still walkers flooding out from the aisles, and Percy isn't sure where all of them came from. How are there so many?

"Reyna!" Percy yells. "We have to leave now!"

"Go! I'm right behind you!"

The breath leaves Percy's body because _no_ he is _not_ leaving her here. The last time he heard that, the last time he _left_ —

He grabs Reyna's arm and hauls her behind him as he runs toward the door. She swipes down any of the walkers that get too close to them, and Percy's eyes adjust to the light right as he runs through the door and—

Something tackles him to the ground, and he lets go of Reyna's hand. Percy rolls to his back, and when he opens his eyes, he sees Octavian leaning over him. There's a rock in his right hand, and Percy reaches one of his arms up in time to grab his wrist before he can smash it to his head.

"Octavian," Percy spits, struggling to keep his arm up while Octavian uses both arms to push down on it. "What the fuck—"

"It's time for you to die, Percy Jackson," he says, baring his teeth. "Camp Jupiter will be mine once you and Reyna are dead!"

Percy can hear Reyna shouting, but she's struggling to keep the walkers from flooding the outside so they won't be overwhelmed. He looks over to her, and she's holding her back against the door to keep it shut. Her eyes are wild, and she's staring at him. He can hear her screaming his name and threatening Octavian all in the same breath, but he just blinks at her.

He reaches up with his other hand and shoves Octavian's face, growling, "Don't _fucking_ _touch her."_

Octavian shifts back over him, and Percy kicks his legs away and uses his arms to push him off. But before Percy can get him off, Octavian slams the rock into his forehead.

Percy hears Reyna scream one more time before his eyes roll back into his head and everything goes dark.

Ω

He's back in his room at Camp when he wakes up.

Everything is quiet, and the sheets are warm where he's tangled up in them. He blinks his eyes open slowly, and there's someone sitting beside him.

"Percy," they whisper, and he _knows_ that voice. "Percy, wake up."

He looks up, and his chest caves in with relief when he sees Annabeth leaning over him.

She looks better than she did the last time he saw her. She's wearing her jacket and jeans like usual, but they're stitched up perfectly. Her beautiful blonde curls are hanging down around her shoulders, and her face is perfectly clean. Her gray eyes are clear and sparkling happily, and there's a small smile pulling her lips up. She's beautiful.

"Annabeth?" He asks, rolling over to look up at her in awe.

She smiles down at him and threads her hand through his hair. Percy wants to cry again because he missed her so fucking much.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," she says. Her voice is soft, just like he remembered.

"I missed you," he hums, twisting one of his hands into hers.

"I missed you too," she says. "But you need to wake up now."

He looks up at her in disappointment. "I'm not dead?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes, "No, you idiot, but you're going to be if you don't wake up and help Reyna!"

Percy freezes when she says Reyna's name. For a split second, he just stares up at her, not knowing what to say.

She must understand (like _always_ ) because her expression softens. "Percy, it's okay."

"No, it's not," he says, pressing his hands into his eyes. "I love you."

"I know you do, but you also love her."

He flinches and stares up at her.

She reaches forward and takes his hand again, bringing it up to her face. "Percy, I know you love me, but we can't be together right now. You're still alive, and I'm not. It's okay for you to have feelings for someone else."

"But… Annabeth," he whispers.

"Reyna cares about you, Percy," she says softly. "You need to go back to her right now."

A few tears drip out of his eyes because he's just torn in _half_ right now. He's finally getting to see Annabeth, but she's telling him that it's okay to like Reyna. He's just _so goddamn confused_.

"I love you," he whispers, because it's the one thing he's sure about.

"I know."

"I want to stay here with you," he says, even though part of him argues with that thought.

Her smile is sad. "No, you don't."

Percy doesn't answer, and instead a few tears leak out of his eyes and onto his face. Annabeth leans down until she's curled around him, holding his head to her chest. She's singing the same Fall Out Boy song in his ear again, and he falls asleep twisted around her just like he used to.

Ω

When he wakes up the next time, he's a lot less comfortable than he was before.

He is lying on the ground, and there are stars dotting his vision. He can't really see anything right away, but after he blinks a few times, he notices the world spinning a bit.

"Percy," someone is saying urgently, their pitch high with worry. "Percy, wake up! Wake up!"

His vision finally adjusts, and he can see Reyna hovering over him. She's straddling his chest and bending over him, holding his head in her hands. One of her palms is pressed flat to his forehead, and her other is cradling the side of his head to keep him from moving it. Her dark eyes are watery, but her mouth is set into a hard line. There's also a cut on her cheek, and Percy prays to every god that he can think of that it's not a cut from one of the walkers.

"Reyna?" His voice is hoarse when he says her name.

"Thank _god_ ," she breathes, ducking down to press her face to his for a second. "I was afraid you were dead, oh my god."

"I'm okay, I'm okay," he reassures her. "Are you? Where's Octavian? Did he hurt you?"

She clutches him a little closer. "No, no, I'm fine. Octavian ran off as soon as you passed out. I couldn't get to him fast enough without letting the walkers out, and he took our car."

"That's okay, we're okay," he breathes. One of his arms snakes around her waist, and he holds her. His heart feels lighter, and his head feels clearer now.

But they don't have time to talk about it right now. They have to get back to Camp before Octavian does anything crazy.

She nods and lets out a breath. "We need to get back to Camp now. Can you stand?"

"Yeah, just get me up," he says, loosening his arm from her waist and letting it fall.

Reyna scrambles off of his chest and climbs to her feet. She carefully lifts him off of the ground and wraps an arm around her waist while he holds onto her shoulders. The world only spins a bit before he's on his feet.

"What happened to the walkers?" Percy asks as they start walking.

"They're still locked up in the building. I found an old pipe and slipped it into the door handles so it wouldn't open," she explains, tightening her arm around him as she sets a quick pace.

Percy stays silent for a few more minutes before he says, "I'm sorry that I grabbed your arm and pulled you out of there like that. It's just…"

"It was dumb of me," she starts, avoiding his gaze. "You probably saved—"

"No," he interrupts her because that's not the reason he's apologizing right now. "That's not what I mean. You just… you said that you would be right behind me and it kind of freaked me out because…"

"Percy," she says softly. "I get it."

He nods. "I just… I don't think that I could do that again. Even if you asked me to, I wouldn't be able to do it."

Reyna doesn't say anything. Her eyes shift away from his, and all of a sudden, her jawline is harder, like she's clenching her teeth.

"Before the world ended," she starts. "I lived with my father and sister. It wasn't—it wasn't that good, but I had my sister for a while. When she got old enough, she left. I talked to her from time to time after that, but I never heard anything from her after everything went dark," Reyna tell him. She's staring straight ahead now, avoiding his gaze again.

"Reyna," Percy says quickly. "Just because I told you about Annabeth—"

"Shut up," she warns, sending him a _look_. There's something in her eyes that makes Percy realize that she _needs_ to tell him. She continues, "My best friend, Jason, lived in the house across the street from us, and we got a lot closer when my sister left. His parents weren't great either, so we were pretty much our own family. When everything started going bad, we just packed up some stuff and left. We had a tough time at the beginning, being on our own together, but it got easier. We got really good at doing supply raids. That's why I go by myself most of the time. It's easier to do it the old way on my own. But then…"

Percy angles his body more towards hers, wondering what had happened to make her stop. He sees her take a deep breath, before continuing.

"Jason and I got too cocky. We were passing through a bigger town, and there was this supercenter store that still had the boards on it. So we busted out the windows and went inside. There were so many supplies, like everything you could ever think of, and most of it was untouched. We just started grabbing stuff, and before we could get out—there were so many walkers."

He freezes because this sounds so goddamn familiar. If Reyna had to go through what he did—

"We got separated," she says, still staring off into the distance as they walk. A scowl has settled on her face, but her eyes are a bit watery. "I just got outside as fast as I could, hoping he would be there but—"

Percy squeezes her shoulder gently, telling her that it's okay.

Her voice wobbles. "I waited as long as I could, but there were so many walkers and—"

He can hear it even though she doesn't say it. _I left him there._

"Reyna," he says softly. "You didn't have a choice."

"I know that, and I've mostly made my peace with what I did, but then you told me about Annabeth and—Percy, you just, you _had_ to leave her there, you know? I left Jason behind by choice," she explains, sending him a glance. Her dark eyes are barely clouded over, but he thinks that he sees sadness in them.

"You would have died if you would have tried to find him with all of those walkers," Percy argues.

"Maybe," she says vaguely.

There's a second of silence before he asks, "Do you ever think—?"

She cuts him off immediately. "No."

"You don't even know what—"

"You were going to ask me if I ever think that he's alive," she says sharply.

He hesitates again. "Do you?"

"No. I had to move on and keep myself alive. Wondering if I was going to find him or if he even did made it out alive was out of the question. It clouded my judgement so I never let myself think about it." Her voice softens again, "Not long after that I found Frank and Hazel. They were good for me; made me think about protecting someone other than myself for a while. We built Camp Jupiter together. They're my family now."

Percy nods. "Still. I'm sorry."

She shrugs, "Once we got the walls up, it was easier to think about Jason. So I started going out again, looking for supplies and surveying the land. It was easier to distract myself like that, and I had less time to think about him. I rarely found any other people, mostly just supplies."

Percy turns his gaze to Reyna. "But then you found me."

Her face is blank still, but her eyes are wide with surprise and Percy wonders how long he can stare into her eyes without getting bored. Probably forever.

Her voice is a bit lighter when she says, "Yeah, I found you."

"And then you took me back to Camp with you. I spent the first few nights wishing Annabeth was with me because it wasn't really fair that I found this place when we had been looking for it, you know? But then…" he trails off, unsure if he should keep going.

"Then?" Reyna prompts. Her voice sounds different now.

He hesitates, but then he remembers Annabeth's words, her smile. "Then I started spending more time with you, and I just…" Percy doesn't really know how to say it.

She stops walking and turns to face him. She's just a few inches shorter than him, but she's so close, Percy has to look down at her.

"Percy," she says softly. "You don't have to."

His heart wrenches in his chest because _of course_ he doesn't _have_ to, but he does anyway. That's the whole _point._

"I know I don't have to, but I do," he says, sliding one of his hands up to her face. Her eyes close for just a second before she blinks back up at him.

She opens her mouth to say something, but before she does, gunshots echo through the air. They both freeze, and whatever moment they have disappears.

Her voice shakes when she says, "We have to get back. Can you run?"

Percy nods and lets his hand fall from her face. "Yeah."

But Reyna slips her hand into his, and they both run back toward Camp.

 **A/N: See you next Wednesday!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Whoa, guys, it's been ten weeks. This is crazy. Thanks for everyone who has been reviewing and supporting this story, and I really love hearing what you guys think. Remember, I am forgetful and don't respond to reviews like I should, so come over to tumblr and leave me an ask so I'll answer it. My url is somethingmorecreative1**

 **Also, we're getting to the fun part of the story now! I think the next two chapters leave off with cliffhangers too so that should be fun, right? Come talk to me on tumblr!**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy._**

 _-9302015-_

Percy's lungs are aching, and he's trying to draw in more oxygen but his head is still spinning and he's so dizzy he can barely stay on his feet. Reyna notices, wrapping an arm around his waist and dragging him along behind her.

They don't have the time to waste either. There's no telling what's happening back at Camp, and they need to be there _right now—_

Percy trips over his feet, and out of the corner of his eye he can see a few walkers following them.

"Rey—na," he gasps, blinking to get the world to stop spinning.

"I know," she grits her teeth and picks up the speed. "We have to go faster."

Damn. She's going to kill him.

But Percy takes another deep breath and clenches his jaw together. He can rest later.

They sprint along the road as fast as they can (which for him, isn't very fast). Gunshots are still echoing through the air, and when they're close to Camp, Percy can hear people shouting and screaming.

Just as they round the last corner of the road to get to Camp, three cars burst out of the South Gate, tearing it down and leaving it on the ground. Reyna shoves Percy backwards and grabs the rifle from his shoulder before he rolls out of the road and to the grass.

Percy watches in horror as she stands in the middle of the road and fires the rifle at the cars that are coming directly toward her. He can see two other guys leaning out of the windows of the cars, firing guns that they must have stolen from their supplies at Camp.

Reyna doesn't move as the cars keep accelerating toward her. She keeps shooting instead. The windshield of one of the cars busts, shattering the glass. From his spot on the side of the road, Percy sees Octavian lean out of the window with a handgun, taking aim at Reyna.

Percy hurriedly grabs his gun from his jeans and fires toward Octavian. The bullet clips the side mirror where Octavian had been leaning out, but it's enough to make him duck back inside the car.

"Reyna!" Percy shouts in warning. She needs to get out of the way before she gets shot or plowed over.

When Percy is sure that she's going to get hit by the first car, she rolls out of the way and spins around, pulling her rifle back up and shooting out the tires of the other one. The driver jerks the steering wheel too fast, and the car flips, rolling on its sides until it lands in the ditch.

It's eerily quiet for a few seconds. Percy shoots a glance at Reyna, but she's still gripping the rifle in her hands, watching out of the scoop. No one moves, and the other two cars barely hit their brakes before speeding off and disappearing down the road.

He's still watching Reyna, but a stick breaking to his left grabs his attention, and he jerks his gaze over to find a walker stumbling out of the woods toward him.

Percy scrambles to his feet, swaying a bit before running up to the road. Reyna is still staring at the car laying in the ditch. Her jaw is clenched, and anger clouds her eyes.

"Reyna," he says, reaching out to carefully touch her arm. "There's too many walkers."

It's true. There are walkers stumbling toward them from every direction now, and since the wall is down, it could be just a few minutes before they are overwhelmed and the camp is overrun.

She turns toward him. "Percy."

His heart clenches in his chest at her tone. "No."

"Go inside and find Frank and Hazel. Once you find them get somebody out here to help put the wall back up," she says, turning her gaze back toward the road and the walkers coming toward them.

"You're coming with me," he says, tightening his hand on her arm. An eerie sense of déjà vu overwhelms him because he's been _here_ too many times, but he shoves it back for her sake.

She shakes her head and pulls the rifle back to her shoulder so she can fire at a few of the walkers, sending them to the ground. "Someone has to stay here and keep the walkers out. You're wasting time. I can handle this."

Even though he doesn't want to leave her, he knows that this is the only option. Frank and Hazel could be inside Camp. They wouldn't even know that Percy and Reyna were out here, or that the wall was down. They could be hurt or—

Percy's heart is racing, and he grabs Reyna in a quick hug, pressing his head into her neck for two seconds before he nods and pushes back.

Her eyes are hard as she turns away from him, shooting the walkers one by one.

He leaves her standing there on her own before he races back inside Camp.

Ω

"Frank! Hazel!" Percy shouts, running down the street as fast as he can. He stumbles a bit, and he's still dizzy from being knocked out earlier. He feels sick to his stomach, but there's not time for him to slow down.

The camp looks deserted. The doors to the police station are standing wide open from where Octavian busted the lock off of the door. There are bullet holes in the side of some of the buildings, and Percy prays that no one was hurt.

He urges himself to go faster. He can hear Reyna's gun firing and echoing in the air, and he hopes that she will be okay until he can get back out there. He's turning the corner of the street to get to the pavilion where he hopes everyone is gathered, but someone grabs him by the shirt and slams him to the side of the building before he can even register what is happening.

A hand is clamped around his neck already, and the barrel of a gun is pressed against his forehead. Percy struggles for breath, and that's when he sees Blake's surprised expression.

He lets go immediately, pulling the gun back and grabbing him in a quick hug. His voice is relieved when he pushes back and says, "Percy, thank god. We thought you and Reyna would be dead."

"We're about to be," Percy says tiredly, but he doesn't care. He's so happy to see Blake right now, _surely_ that means that some of the others are alive too, right?

"What do you mean?" Blake asks.

"No time for the whole story," Percy explains. "Where are the others? The south wall is down, and Reyna is out there on her own against all the walkers. We have to help her before—"

Blake curses and motions for Percy to follow him. He says, "Octavian killed Michael while he was guarding the police station so they could get weapons. After they had the cars, the drove down the street and shot at us. We hid at the pavilion under the tables, but they clipped Frank and—"

"Is he okay?" Percy demands. _God,_ he hopes he is. He can't do this without Frank.

"For now," Blake says, turning into the pavilion.

Many of the tables are flipped on their sides, and there are two people—Percy thinks it's Dakota and Gwen, but he's not sure—holding guns and leaning over the tables, aiming toward them. They both drop their guns when they realize it is Blake and Percy, jumping to their feet and shouting his name.

Hazel appears next, and even though there are tears in her eyes, she looks relieved. Percy rushes around the table, and Hazel crashes into him, wrapping her arms around him quickly.

"We thought you were dead," she says, pushing back from him and wiping her eyes. "Where's Reyna?"

"She's protecting the wall by herself. We have to go—" Just as Percy's about to finish explaining what's happening, he looks over Hazel's shoulder to see Frank laying on the ground.

Percy's stomach jumps to his throat, and he feels sick. Frank is on his side, his shirt ripped open. There's a large bandage covering his right shoulder, stained red from the blood. His eyes are still closed, but his jaw is clenched together. There's someone pressing a rag to his forehead, wiping the sweat from his face.

"Frank?" Percy asks shakily.

Frank's eyes open at his voice. He holds out his good arm, and even though Hazel starts to object, Percy carefully pulls him up off of the ground.

"Percy," Frank's voice is rough, but there's relief there too just like there had been with everyone else when they saw him. "Thank god you're alive. Reyna?"

He nods and helps Frank balance on his feet even though his own don't feel too stable. He explains, "Reyna's fighting walkers. The south wall is down from where Octavian left, so she's trying to keep the walkers out, but there are too many. We need to get the wall back up right now."

Frank nods, "Yeah, we need to get down there. But there's… there are some bodies in Camp that we need to—"

Percy's heart drops because _of course_ Octavian had to kill some of their people. Percy swears that if he ever sees him again, he's going to—

"How many?" Percy asks. His voice is dark and scary, and he's shaking because he's so upset.

Frank presses a hand to his face, "I don't know. Seven? Ten? There could be people hiding, but we've looked and… I just don't know."

"Okay," Percy takes a deep breath and looks around the small group they have gathered here. There's maybe fifteen of them now—probably ten of them could help get the wall back up. The others are either too young or too hurt, and they all need to get to safety _now._ He continues, "We're going to get everyone that's hurt back to the apartment building and barricade the doors while we get the wall back up. Reyna has one rifle, so we need more weapons. Did Octavian take them all?"

"He took everything from the police station," Blake says with a nod. "These are the only guns we had out."

"Percy," Frank says suddenly. His eyes are wide. "I stashed some rifles under the floorboards in the library."

Good. That's good. Percy nods quickly and starts dividing people into groups to get to everyone either to the apartment building or down to the other end of Camp without a walker sneaking up on them. He almost laughs because just a few days ago he was wishing for Camp Jupiter to be less boring. But—god, this isn't what he meant.

They move down the street quickly after they set out from the pavilion, with Gwen, Dakota, and Blake on their other sides with the guns while Percy and Frank leads the way. There aren't any walkers in the streets yet, but Percy can see a few dead bodies stuck in the allies that he hadn't seen before, and he grits his teeth and tells his people to keep moving.

The apartment building isn't far, and they make it there without any incidents. Percy ducks inside the building with the small group of people that are going to stay, leading them up to a third floor room with a window in case they need to escape. He tells them to push the furniture against the door and wait for them to come back—because they _are_ coming back.

Percy tries to get Frank to stay with them since he's hurt, but he just shakes his head and locks his jaw together. Percy doesn't have time to argue, so they run for the stairs.

When they get back down to the street, Blake, Hazel, and the others are still waiting on them. They're standing in a loose, jagged circle, facing different directions. Percy sees tears in Hazel's eyes, but her jaw is clenched tight.

"What's wrong?" He asks immediately, even though pretty much everything is wrong right now.

Her voice is rough when she says, "I took care of the bodies I could find. Eight, so far."

Percy curses because _no one_ should ever have to do that to their own people. He says, "We have to hurry," and they sprint toward the wall.

Ω

Miraculously, Reyna is still on her feet when they get close enough to see her. Another miracle: she's still firing her gun so that means she still has ammo.

There are too many walkers though. Even if they _do_ get the wall back up fast enough, will it be able to hold against a crowd this size?

Percy jerks away from his thoughts. The wall _has_ to hold. There isn't another option.

"Percy," Frank catches his attention before he darts off to help Reyna. "Maybe we should go."

And he knows what Frank is talking about as soon as he mentions it even though it had slipped his mind. The settlement. They _could_ just get in the cars and drive over there and not look back. If Octavian ever came back here, then he would just think that they were all dead and gone anyway.

But—there's not enough supplies at the settlement to last them a _week,_ and if they let the Camp be overrun with walkers, they won't ever be able to get back inside and gather the buildup of supplies they have here.

Percy shakes his head, "We don't have enough time to get all of the supplies together, and we wouldn't ever be able to get back in here. We need to get the wall back up so we have some time."

Frank gives him a small nod and says, "Then we need those guns so we can help Reyna." Percy vaguely wonders when he became so important to this camp and its leaders, but he isn't fighting it. Trust is hard to come by nowadays, and he's glad that he still has some of Frank's.

He nods, but he's too distracted to make a plan while he watches Reyna fire the rifle at the surge of walkers coming toward her. One is getting too close to her, and Percy doesn't even think he would make it to her before it—

She rolls under it and shoves the gun under its chin, pulling the trigger and blowing its head to bits. She catches his eye for half a second, and her furious expression is enough to jar him back into reality.

"Percy." Frank warns. His voice is serious, and Percy forces himself to concentrate.

"Hazel," Percy starts, stuttering over her name a bit before he takes a deep breath. "Take one of the rifles and get on top of the wall and shoot the walkers close to you or Reyna. The rest of you guys, get the wall back up _now._ Frank and I are going to get those weapons."

Hazel's eyes narrow as she studies both of them, "Are you sure you should go? Neither of you are in good shape."

"We don't have another option," Percy says. "Just get the wall up. We'll be back with more weapons."

Frank nods along, darting forward to press a kiss to her forehead before he takes the rifle from Blake and hands it to her. His voice catches when he says, "We're coming back."

She doesn't say anything, but she presses her hand to his heart for half of second before she tosses the rifle on top of the wall and climbs up after it.

Frank stares after her, watching while she aims toward the crowd of walkers and starts shooting. Blake, Gwen, and Dakota along with a few others are already working on getting some of the wall back up, but Percy and Frank need to go _right now._

"Frank," Percy says quickly, staring out of the gaping hole that used to be the south gate where Reyna is _still_ fighting walkers one on one. "We have to hurry."

He nods and refocuses his gaze on Percy's face, and he realizes that he's afraid that if he leaves then he might not ever see Hazel again. Percy feels the same way.

But they have weapons waiting for them. If they could just get to the library and back, they would have a better chance at getting through today alive.

Even though they're both unsteady on their feet, Percy and Frank turn away and sprint toward the library, listening to desperate yells and gunshots echo through the otherwise silent air.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review, and I'll see you guys next Wednesday!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey, guys! We've made it eleven weeks with this fic, and I'm super excited to share this chapter with you. However, I am going to skip updating next week, so expect Chapter 12 on October 14th. If you have any questions or comments, come over to tumblr and talk to me.**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you mat recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy._**

 _-9302015-_

Frank is wheezing like he's about to lose a lung, but when Percy tries to slow down, he shakes his head and gasps out, "We don't—have time—to stop."

To be fair, Percy's not much better. He's still dizzy from earlier today when Octavian knocked him out, and he really needs something to eat and drink. His hands have been shaking since he woke up, and his teeth are clenched together so tightly they're beginning to hurt.

He just—he doesn't understand how Octavian could do something like this. How could he threaten all of their people? How could he—?

If Percy ever finds him—

They run down the street and turn into the alley beside the library. The sun is making its way down, and there's probably only a few hours until it sets, leaving them in the dark. If the wall isn't back up by then, they won't be able to keep the walkers out.

Percy keeps sprinting toward the library entrance, and he rips the door open when he gets there, ushering Frank inside. He leads the way back into the library through dark stacks of books, and honestly, Percy would be really freaked out if he had the time to think about anything other than breathing.

It's silent inside the library except for the gasping of breath from the both of them. Frank is clutching a hand to his side where blood has soaked into his bandage again, but if they stop and try to do something to help it, they could all die. They _need_ to get back to the wall _right now._

"Where are they?" Percy yells to Frank.

"Here!" Frank shouts, sliding down to the ground. There's a piece of the carpet sliced neatly, and Frank pulls back the seam to reveal a darker piece of wood. He hurriedly yanks it out, and Percy sighs in relief when he sees the rifles.

They take five with them, which is about just as many they can carry. Frank shoves the plank of wood back down into the small hole and covers it back with the carpet. If they make it through today, then they'll have to come back and fix this so no one will be able to find it.

Through the silence of the library, Percy can hear the gunshots outside. It's crazy that they haven't run out of ammo yet, especially since they only have three guns down there.

Percy and Frank run through the library and out of the door, slamming it shut behind them. They each take off down the street, huffing for breath and struggling with the guns in their arms. Percy rounds the corner and runs out into the street, but he bumps into something and trips, dropping all of the guns around his feet. The next second, Frank trips over him and flies to the ground, losing all of his guns too.

Percy hears Frank groan, but when he looks back up, there's a walker barely two feet from them, struggling to its feet and reaching out toward them, snapping its jaws in their direction.

The first thing that Percy thinks is that the camp must have been overrun.

He risks a glance down toward the gate, dreading what he's going to find, but Blake and Dakota are holding it up in place while Gwen crawls up on top of it. Hazel is still on the other side, reloading her gun before she takes aim again to shoot more walkers.

"Percy!" Frank shouts, grabbing his attention again.

He rolls to his feet and steps around the walker, grabbing it by the neck and slamming its head into the side of the building. Percy knows that it must have been someone in Camp that Octavian had killed, but he can't stand to look at their face right now. Someone else will have to figure out who it used to be.

Once it's collapsed against the ground, Percy grabs Frank's arm and hauls him to his feet, but while Percy is gathering the guns in his arms, the Camp falls silent.

He spins around when he hears the gunshots stop.

For two seconds, there's complete silence, and Percy feels sick to his stomach. There's no way— _she's_ fine. _She has to be_.

Even though they're still a few yards away, he hears Hazel shout, "Reyna!"

Percy starts to run, but Frank grabs his arm and shoves some of the guns into his arms before he scoops up the rest. Frank's eyes are hard when he looks at Percy, but there's a bit of fear there too. He says, "We have to get these weapons over there. Now."

Percy nods blankly, but he can hear Reyna yelling now too and his whole body is shaking with fear. He can't— _she can't—_

They dash toward the gate, running as quickly as they can with their arms full. Frank slams his weight against the wall, pushing it up more. He shouts something at Blake and Dakota, but Percy's heart is beating too loudly in his chest for him to hear anything besides Reyna yell. Oh god, what if she's hurt? What if—?

Percy drops the guns onto the ground but tosses three rifle straps over his shoulders before jumping up and grabbing a bent piece of metal on the wall. He hauls himself up onto the top of it, wobbling slightly from where Frank is trying to keep it up on his own while Blake and Dakota secure the sides to the hinges.

He sighs in relief when he spots Reyna still on her feet. Her gun is lying on the ground, and she must have ran out of bullets. She's using her sword to cut down the walkers now. Even though it seems like it's one against hundreds, she's winning. There is a furious expression on her face, and her eyes are enough to kill on their own. Some of her dark hair is starting to slip out of her braid at the end, and there's a piece of it hanging in her eyes.

Percy is so relieved to see her _still fighting_ that he just stares for a few seconds. And then something grabs his arm, and Percy jumps so hard that he almost loses his balance and falls off and—

Hazel has her hand on his arm. Her eyes are desperate as she reaches out for one of the guns. "Percy! Come on!"

He hands her a rifle before turning to his right and tossing one to Gwen on the other end of the wall. Hazel and Gwen are firing half a second later, knocking down some of the walkers getting too close to Reyna before moving to the groups crowding the wall and stumbling down the road. Percy slings the last rifle over his head, letting it dangle across his back.

Just as he's crouching down so he can drop to the ground to help Reyna, she turns toward him and catches his eye.

She slices the heads off of three walkers with one deadly swipe of her sword as she yells, "Percy Jackson, do _not_ come down here!"

Her tone of voice is enough to make him hesitate, and instead, he huffs and rolls back over, pulling his rifle out to start firing at some of the walkers. With the three of them shooting down the extras, the crowd is starting to thin out, and Percy wonders if they can actually pull this off.

As soon as that first optimistic thought crosses his mind, the wall underneath him creaks and shifts backwards. He loses his balance for a second, but he's lucky that he was crouching down instead of standing up. He risks a glance over at Hazel, and she's balancing on one knees, still firing her gun even though the wall keeps shifting underneath them.

"Percy!" Frank shouts from the ground. His voice is strained and rough, and Percy suddenly feels guilty because Frank has a fucking bullet in his side and he's holding up a goddamn piece of metal _by himself._ "Get off of there! I can't hold it!"

"You have to!" Percy yells, shoving his rifle in Hazel's direction before dropping down off of the wall.

Frank has his whole side pressed up against the wall, with his hands braced on the top of it too. His whole body is shaking from holding his weight against it, and there's blood dripping down his side from his wound.

Percy shoves his weight against the wall too, watching Blake try and bend the metal edge back so it will slide into the jam that holds it up. He's hurrying, and just when they're ready to pick up this side so it will fit back together, Frank collapses.

"Frank!" He screams, bending a bit under the full weight of the wall. Blake is shouting that he almost has it and that Percy just needs to _push harder_ so Percy grits his teeth and shoves again, using the last of his strength to hold the heavy metal up.

His eyesight is tinged with red, and he's getting dizzier by the second. He can't keep this up. He can't keep holding this on his own. He can't—

 _Reyna, I'm sorry,_ Percy thinks as his arms start to tremble and his vision gets darker.

But then—he hears a metal scraping, and Blake yells something that Percy doesn't understand but the weight is lifted from his shoulders.

Percy slides down the wall, collapsing in a heap next to Frank. He can't really see anything anymore, but at least they're safe. They're going to be okay now.

His head flops back against the wall, and his vision goes completely dark.

Ω

When Percy finally comes to, it's because Hazel is shaking him awake. There are tears streaming down her face, but she looks a bit calmer than she did while on the wall.

"How long…was I out?" Percy groans, reaching up to run a hand over his face. He's still a bit dizzy and short of breath, but he can worry about that later. Just… is everyone _safe?_ Actually, he doesn't care about _safe,_ he cares about _alive_ because this is the end of the world, and it hasn't been _safe_ for a while.

She brushes her hand over his head, checking for blood, but she pulls back quickly, nodding to herself when she doesn't see any injuries. There's a bit of blood on her cheek, but Percy can't see a cut anywhere.

Hazel helps him to his feet while she says, "Just a few minutes. You and Frank both held the wall up for too long while you were both already hurt. It could've been worse—"

"But it's up now, right?" Percy cuts her off, looking around. Blake is on the other end of the gate with Dakota, trying to fix the brackets back so they'll lock. But at least it's up now. It might not hold forever, but it should make it through the night.

"Yeah," Hazel breaths, hovering over him for a second to make sure he won't fall over or something. Percy wants to roll his eyes at her because they don't have time to worry about him, but it's too sweet. "But Frank… He's not doing so good."

Percy curses, looking back Hazel to see Frank leaning up against the wall. His head is rolled over to one side, and his eyes are still closed. There's still blood dripping down his side, and they need to get some medical supplies and get him fixed up before—

"Where's Reyna?" Percy demands, sliding onto the ground next to Frank. Hazel follows him to crouch in front of Frank. She drags her hand over his hair, leaning forward and pressing her forehead to his.

"She's still outside," Hazel says, sparing him a glance before setting her eyes back on Frank.

"Fuck," Percy mumbles, getting back to his feet and stumbling down the wall until he finds a good place to climb to the top of it. His vision blurs a bit when he pulls himself up, but he flops onto the top of the wall and takes a deep breath until he can see again.

When he looks up, he can see Gwen crouching with her rifle on top of the wall a few feet away from him. She shoots every few seconds, knocking down the walkers that stumble out of the woods and onto the road. There aren't as many as there were earlier, and Percy thinks that it's really good.

He shifts his gaze down to the road.

Reyna is still in the middle of a circle of walkers. She's spinning and twisting and stabbing walkers with her sword, and there's an impressive amount of bodies lying on the ground.

It's just— she hasn't slowed down at all since Percy left her out here alone. She's taken down this many walkers, and she's _still fighting._

She spins in a circle, and Percy catches a glimpse of the murderous look on her face. She must be running completely off of anger now.

"Reyna!" Percy shouts. "The wall is up! Come inside!"

She yells in anger when a stray walker reaches to grab her shoulder and spins, slicing its head off in one swipe. She's still yelling when she says, "Let me _finish!"_

Percy's about to jump down and drag her back inside even if she doesn't like it because it's fucking dangerous down there, but Gwen catches his eye. She's shaking her head, and she rolls her eyes.

"Just leave her down there," Gwen says, looking through the scope of her rifle. "I've got her back right now. We'll come inside if there are too many."

He hesitates for a second before he nods at her and drops carefully back to the ground to help Frank and Hazel.

Ω

When Reyna does finally come back inside, Percy's standing on the other side of the gate waiting for her.

She's covered in blood and guts. Her clothes and skin are stained red from it, and she smells _horrible._ Her braid must have come undone because her dark hair is slowly falling down. There's a splatter of blood right across her face, running up her jaw to scatter under her eyes. Which, she's still wearing a hard expression, but her eyes look a little calmer, and once she sees Percy, her shoulders aren't so tense anymore.

He had helped Hazel get Frank to the apartment building with the others. The three of them had run into two more of their people who had turned into walkers, and Hazel had fired a gun at their heads before Percy could even offer to. It was just—it wasn't fair.

Frank is doing better though. Percy left Hazel there with him (because they can't risk losing Frank), and once she bandaged his shoulder wound back up, he was sleeping better. Hazel thinks that he's going to be alright, and that's just—a relief, really. Percy doesn't think he can do this without him.

Percy also sent Blake and Dakota to check out the rest of the camp and try and gather the bodies up. Sometime tomorrow they'll have to figure out who made it and who—

"Gwen," Percy starts, interrupting his own thoughts. "Can you go find some food and take it to everyone in the apartment? I know that the rations might be out, but—"

The other girl nods and pats him on the shoulder as she moves past him. "Of course, Percy. I'll figure it out."

"Thanks," he breathes. "Be careful."

She nods again before she takes off down the street.

Reyna is still standing a few feet away from him. Her sword is still clenched in her hand, and her eyes look a little blank now, like she's about to pass out. Her mouth opens like she's going to say something, but before she can, Percy surges forward.

She drops her sword when Percy wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his body even though she's covered in blood and smells like death. But damn, Percy's just glad she's alive. _They're_ alive.

Reyna's head falls over onto his shoulder, and Percy would think that she's asleep, except he can feel her hand fisting the material of his t-shirt.

"Frank and Hazel?" Reyna murmurs a few seconds later.

Percy rubs a hand over her back, pressing his face into her shoulder too. "They're okay. Everyone is in the apartment building together. Hazel thinks that Frank is going to be fine."

She sighs in relief. "And the wall is secure?"

Percy nods, "Blake is sending someone back to guard tonight, but we're good."

"Good," she murmurs, pulling her head up and staring at him for a few seconds before she slips out of his arms and picks up her sword. Percy's still unsteady on his feet and he feels like he could pass out right here and sleep for _years,_ but he feels better than ever when she reaches out and takes his hand.

"Come on," she says softly, staring ahead and pulling him forward. "We need to get some rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

Percy nods and follows along behind her, gripping her hand in his and fighting the sleep that's about to consume him.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in two weeks!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Yo, guys! Long time no see, huh? Yeah, last week was rough for me, and I decided to skip another week just to keep myself from stressing. I appreciate you guys being patient with me. We should be back on a weekly update schedule, and if I decide to take a skip week again, hopefully I'll be able to let you guys know before hand.**

 **Thanks to lililibat on tumblr for being a hella rad beta. Go check out her blog!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead_** **, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**

-10212015-

The next few weeks are rough.

It's hard to put the camp back together after Octavian nearly destroyed it. Once the wall was finally stabilized and the bodies from the camp had been burned (there were too many, for Percy's likings, but it was better than some alternatives), life started to get back to a new sort of normal. Some of the people that lost their family or friends when Octavian fled, left Camp, and Reyna sent them away with a nod and some supplies even though they couldn't really spare it.

But—it's better. Percy often finds himself wondering where Octavian took off to when he's on guard duty at the wall. He also wonders if they will ever see him again.

Things with Reyna have been... better too. He doesn't really get to see her that much right now because she's either out on a supply run on her own or she's over at the new settlement trying to get it ready. Percy knows that she wanted to have them moved over there by winter, but Frank doesn't think they're going to make it. He says that they should ride it out here and wait for spring before they try to move. Percy and Hazel don't really have an opinion about it yet.

Percy also takes to spending some time outside of Camp too. Once he talked Reyna into it (she was a lot harder to convince than he thought she would be), she lets him take a truck and hit the road. Most of the time, he looks around in some of the old buildings a few miles away from Camp. He finds some good supplies and raids cars for gas so they'll have enough to keep them going. Percy tends to stay away from bigger stores, just because they drag up old memories.

That's what he's doing now—looking for clothes and medical supplies.

He's in a small subdivision, and there aren't a lot of walkers around, which really surprises him. Usually, suburbs have a lot of walkers. Percy kind of thinks that as time goes on, they're moving away from where they were turned into walkers and into packs, looking for food. He bets that he could track them if he had any sort of technology to do so.

Percy has actually found a lot of stuff, and he traded the old Honda car that he brought today for a bigger SUV. It uses more gas, but Percy can get more supplies into it. After all, he can always come back and trade the cars out again.

He's looking through a closet in one of the bedrooms of the house when he brushes past a leather jacket. It's a dark brown color, and it looks like it's shaped for a woman. For some reason, it makes him think of Reyna, so he slides it off of the hangers and carefully folds it into his bag, placing it on top of the pile. He can give it to her when he gets back home.

But by the time that he's ready to go, it's already getting dark, and he really doesn't want to risk driving back to Camp when he can't see that well.

So, he hunkers down, blocks the door, and gets a few hours of sleep in the car that's parked in the garage. It's not easy, and really, he's on edge all night. Percy wonders how he used to do this all of the time, even when he had Annabeth watching his back.

The next morning, he hits the road at first light, pulling up to Camp right as another car is pulling out.

Percy frowns when he recognizes Reyna behind the wheel of the car, but she blinks at him and backs up through the gate, jumping out of her car just as Percy pulls inside Camp.

"Where the hell were you?" She demands, running up to him and tossing her arms around him. She pulls away before Percy can hug her back, and holds him at an arm's length, running her hands over his shoulders and checking him for injuries.

"It was dark by the time I finished getting supplies," he admits, reaching out to touch her arm. "I didn't want to risk getting lost so I just camped out in the car."

She scowls and punches his shoulder, but Percy can see the relief in her eyes. "Don't _ever_ do that again. You _always_ come back before it gets dark."

He raises an eyebrow at her, but nods slowly.

Reyna reaches up to touch his cheek before she turns away. She mutters, "Goddamn, I thought you were _fucking_ dead, Percy. I was coming to find you."

He grabs her wrist and pulls her back to him, ducking forward so she can see his eyes. His voice is low when he tells her, "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Well, you did," she says, jerking her arm away. "Did you at least get some supplies?"

Even though she's probably still pissed at him, he grins and motions for her to follow him to the back of the car. He didn't realize it earlier, but a lot of the people from Camp are down here too, smiling and waiting to see what he brought back.

Finally, he realizes that they all really did think he was dead. When he didn't come back before it got dark, they assumed that he just... didn't make it.

Percy's thoughts are drowned out when he opens the trunk of the car, and some of the people around him yell in excitement.

Before anyone can say anything, Percy sees Frank come out of the police station to see what's going on. His eyes widen, and he grins when he sees Percy, barreling forward to toss an arm around his shoulders.

"Thank god you're back," Frank says, clapping Percy on the chest. Frank's still wearing a bandage around his side from the wound that he had a few weeks ago—mostly because Hazel insists—but he's almost fully recovered now.

"Yeah," Percy finally says. "Sorry."

Reyna interrupts before Frank can say anything when she orders a few of the other guys to unload the car and get the supplies into the police station. The trunk and backseat is full of clothes and a few cans of food, so they start pulling some of the bags out.

"Whoa," Frank says, watching as they unload the car. "Where did you get all of this stuff?"

"I was at a subdivision a few miles away," Percy explains. "I cleaned out a few different houses, but there's plenty more stuff."

"I know where you're talking about," Reyna starts with a frown. She crosses her arms over her chest. "But that place has been covered with walkers for _weeks_ now. How did you get all of this stuff?"

Percy frowns too, "There weren't any walkers. I only killed five, and those were stuck inside the houses."

Reyna's frown deepens, but she looks away.

"Maybe they just moved out?" Frank suggests. "They're starting to move in big packs, like a herd maybe?"

Percy looks over to Reyna for an answer, but either she's not listening or she doesn't care because she doesn't look toward them. Instead, she motions for Blake to grab the car she was in and pull it back around to the parking lot.

Her voice sounds tired when she says, "I'm going inside to sort these supplies. I'll let you guys know where they're going to go at dinner tonight."

Percy and Frank both nod, and Frank gives Percy a quick goodbye before he heads back over to the wall to pick up guard duty since the others are moving the supplies into the building.

Reyna squeezes his arm before she starts to move away, but Percy catches the exhaustion in her eyes. Her shoulders a slumped too, and Percy wonders if she got any sleep last night.

Before he can ask, she says, "I'm glad you're okay, Percy."

He has time to nod before she brushes past him and walks into the police station.

Ω

After they finished getting all of the supplies out of the car, Percy moved it to the parking lot and grabbed the jacket he had gotten for Reyna out of the front seat before he headed back to his room. He caught a few hours of sleep before he went back over to the wall and took Frank's guard shift so he could go see Hazel. Percy knew that they weren't getting to spend that much time together, so he always took one of Frank's shifts for him if Reyna didn't know about it.

One of the other guys, John, replaces Percy at the wall so he can head down to the pavilion and eat with the others. He makes his way down the street and slides onto the bench with Reyna at their table. She's already finished eating now, but she's explaining the supply arrangement to Frank, who's eating and listening.

Hazel joins them a few minutes later, tossing her arms around Percy's neck and surprising him. "You _idiot!_ We thought you were dead!"

Percy glances down at the table sheepishly before looking back up to her, "Sorry."

"Frank said that you brought back a lot of stuff," she says, pulling away from him and walking around the table to sit down beside Frank. "But still. We were worried."

Percy nods again, "Yeah, sorry, I just lost track of time."

"Speaking of," Reyna says, glancing at him quickly. "Frank and I decided that we're going to wait winter out here. It's not too cold yet, but I'm not sure what this area is going to be like when it gets here. We don't want anyone stranded between Camps, especially if all of the supplies are in one place."

Percy and Hazel both nod along, because, honestly, Percy has no opinion either way. He's not sure what the new settlement is like because he hasn't been there, but staying put and building up enough supplies to last through winter here is probably a good idea.

Reyna and Frank discuss a bit more of the things that need to be done tonight and tomorrow morning. Frank says that he's taking the perimeter check with Blake and that there are plenty of other guards on the wall tonight.

Hazel smiles at Percy, but her eyes flicker over to Reyna, like she's trying to tell him something.

And oh god, Percy _knows_ what they're doing.

"Great," Reyna says tiredly, rubbing a hand across her face. "I'm going to go on to bed so come get me if you need anything."

"Sure," Frank says easily, eyeing Percy as soon as she gets up and walks away from the table.

"What are you guys trying to do?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at them.

Frank's face turns red, but Hazel slaps him across the chest before he says anything. Her innocent expression is enough to make Percy roll his eyes.

"Nothing," Hazel sings. "But you better catch Reyna before she goes to bed, don't you think?"

"And why would I do that, Hazel?" Percy asks, raising an eyebrow.

"She was really worried about you," Frank blurts out. "She stayed on the wall all night waiting for you to come back. I had to make her stay here because she almost went after you when it started getting dark."

And hell, Percy was going to get up and go after her anyway, but Frank's expression right then lets Percy know just how upset Reyna actually was. He hadn't meant to stay gone for that long, but if it had been the other way around, Percy probably would have been freaking out too.

Percy sighs and pushes himself up from the table before they say anything else. He walks out of the pavilion, but as soon as he's out of their sight, he breaks into a jog so he can catch up with Reyna.

She's just made it to the apartment building, but she turns around when he calls her name. It's dark now, and Percy can't really see her expression until he gets over to her.

"What's wrong?" She asks immediately. Her eyes flit over his shoulder before looking back to his face.

He shakes his head, "Nothing. I just… I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. For staying gone so long yesterday. I know it would have driven me crazy if it had been you."

Her eyes are wider than they normally are, like she can't believe that he's actually apologizing again. After a few seconds, she sighs and nods, "It's okay. I just. I was scared that you weren't going to come back at all."

Percy reaches forward slowly and takes one of her hands, rubbing his thumb across her skin. She lets out a shaky breath, but she grips his hand too and steps a bit closer to him.

"Reyna," Percy breathes.

She looks up at him, and he forgets what he was going to say.

"Yeah?" She asks, tipping her head up and meeting his gaze with her dark eyes.

"I—uh. I brought something back for you," he says finally, glancing down toward the ground.

"What?"

She sounds confused now, and her voice is still a bit breathless. Percy bites back a smile and says, "I found something yesterday and brought it back for you."

"What is it?"

Percy uses his hold on her hand to tug her inside the building as he says, "It's in my room."

They walk in silence down the dimmed hall. There's a few floodlights that work off of one of the generators they have going, and they cast enough light to throw shadows across their faces. Percy pulls her with him into his room, walking slowly in the dark.

He lights a candle quickly, and the room brightens enough for him to be able to see her face. She's standing close to the table, still gripping his hand, and Percy pulls her a bit closer to him.

He picks up the jacket from the edge of the table and holds it out to her with his free hand. His voice is low when he says, "I found this when I was out yesterday, and it reminded me of you."

Reyna's hand slips out of his so she can pull the jacket into her arms. She's staring at it with wide eyes and smoothing her hand over the soft leather.

Her eyes are watery when she looks up at him, and Percy has never seen her like this before. The breath leaves his lungs when she reaches up to wipe one of her eyes.

"Help me put it on?" She whispers, stepping even closer to him.

Percy can barely nod as he slips the jacket from her hands and carefully helps her into it, sliding the sleeves up over her arms and smoothing the collar down. It fits perfectly, and Percy slides the zipper up halfway.

"There you go," he says in a completely wrecked voice.

Reyna looks up at him, and there's a three second pause before she tosses her arms around him.

Percy wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her to him. Her arms are warm, and she has her head tucked under his chin with one of her hands edging up his neck and threading through his hair. She's murmuring something, and it takes Percy a few seconds to realize that she's saying thank you.

"It reminded me of you." He tightened his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"Thank you," she whispers.

Percy stands there for a long time, just holding on to her. His eyes are closed, and he's running his fingertips along one of her hips while his other hand rests on her back. He could stand there with her forever—but it doesn't take him long to remember that Reyna hasn't slept in almost two days.

She mutters in annoyance when he starts to pull back from her, and one of her hands fists his t-shirt to keep him from going anywhere.

"You need to get some rest," he says softly, reaching down to take her hand.

"I'm fine," she objects even though her eyes are still closed and she sways on her feet just a bit.

He laughs lightly, "No, you're not. Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

Reyna shakes her head, "No. I want to stay here."

Percy's heart nearly stops because… he doesn't even really know why, honestly. But here's this beautiful girl that he really cares about telling him she wants to stay with him and—what else is he supposed to say besides yes?

"Are you… are you sure?" He asks.

She nods and blinks her eyes open long enough to look up at him.

Percy swallows before blowing out the candle and leading her over to his bed.

She climbs in first, settling down on her side and pulling him along with her.

He curls his body around hers and slips one of his arms around her waist to pull her to him until her back is pressed to his chest. She's holding his other hand, and Percy buries his face in between her shoulder blades.

He's almost to sleep when he hears her whisper, "I missed you, Percy."

Percy's heart is beating out of his chest now, and it's so fast that she can probably feel it. He squeezes her hand and murmurs, "I missed you too, Reyna."

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review, and I'll see you next Wednesday!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm excited about this chapter and the new ones too. I really appreciate the reviews you guys have been leaving, so thanks. Don't forget to come check me out on tumblr at somethingmorecreative1.**

 _-10282015-_

Percy wakes up the next morning with someone's arms twisted around him. He's confused for a few seconds until he feels a leather jacket brushing against his back. His shirt must have ridden up a little because he can feel the cool material pressed against his skin.

He wonders when they rolled over because instead of Reyna being tucked against his chest like when they fell asleep, she's behind his back with her arms looped around his waist. She's holding one of his hands too, and he can feel her breath against his neck. One of her legs is twisted with both of his, pulling her closer. Their entwined hands are resting over his heart.

Damn, this brings back memories. Percy hasn't gotten to sleep in the same bed with anybody since he was on the road with Annabeth, and he definitely hasn't been able to just… _hold_ somebody all night. He didn't realize it, but… he really missed it.

He takes a deep breath, and he feels Reyna's arms tighten around him.

Percy falls back asleep a few seconds later.

Ω

The next time he wakes up, Reyna is pulling her arms away from him. He doesn't move or open his eyes, but he hears Reyna breath out a soft laugh when she struggles to get her arm out from underneath him. Percy bites back his own smile so she won't know that he's awake.

When she's finally untangled from him, he feels her push his shirt back down over his back. There's a slight pause like she's moved away, but then Percy feels her press a kiss to his temple before sliding out of the bed. He hears the door close softly behind her, and Percy smiles into his pillow before falling right back asleep again.

Ω

Frank hasn't stopped grinning at him all damn morning.

When Percy finally can't take it anymore, he turns to him and says, "Why are you still fucking smiling at me?"

"Funny you used that word, isn't it?" Frank asks, his grin stretching up to his ears now.

Percy's face turns red. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Frank shrugs a little _too_ innocently, "Reyna showed me her jacket this morning."

His throat goes dry, and he thinks that his face turns a darker shade of red. "She did?"

Frank nods and picks up another box. They're in the basement of City Hall where they store all of their supplies, shifting some stuff around to make room for the boxes Percy brought back yesterday. Percy hasn't seen Reyna since she left his room that morning, but his smile hasn't faded either.

He wonders if she's shown everyone her jacket, or if she's just smiled to herself when they asked her where she got it. Did she think back to him when someone asked? Did she remember how she spent the night curled around him and—

"Yeah," Frank says, interrupting Percy's daydream. "She said you gave it to her last night."

Percy turns his back so he won't see just how deep he's blushing. "So?"

" _So_ what else did you guys do last night?"

He whirls around to face him, trying to decide if a punch to Frank's jaw would be worth the sore knuckles he would be stuck with. Probably not. And even if Frank wouldn't be mad (he wouldn't because he's grinning at Percy like he knows exactly what he's considering), Reyna and Hazel would wonder that happened. Then he would have to _tell them._

"Nothing happened," Percy grits out, clenching his jaw.

Frank laughs, "I'm just messing with you, Percy. You don't have to tell me anything."

"No," Percy says with a shrug because he knows that Frank wasn't being mean about it, but it just _embarrassed_ him, okay? "Really, nothing else happened. I gave her the jacket. We fell asleep."

 _"_ _We?"_

Percy rolls his eyes, "Oh my god, Frank. She was exhausted. After I gave her the jacket, she asked me if she could stay, and we fell asleep. Nothing happened."

"Do you think…?" Frank trailed off, and Percy stared at him for a few seconds before he continued. "I don't know, man. I just think that you're good for her, you know? I worry about her being on her own so much."

Percy doesn't really know what to say. He knows that Frank and Hazel want him and Reyna to be together or _whatever,_ but he isn't sure if Reyna wants that. He definitely doesn't want to push her into anything and have her be more distant from him…

"Not saying that you have to be with her," Frank continues. His voice is a lot quieter than earlier, and he sounds like he's embarrassed too. "I just—"

"Frank, I get it."

Percy hears Frank sigh one more time before they fall into silence again. They don't talk about Reyna again, and Percy is really grateful.

Ω

Percy has to bite back his smile when he sees Reyna wearing her jacket. She's standing on top of the wall, motioning toward Blake who's on the other end of the gate. She must be explaining something to him because Percy can hear her voice, but her words are lost on the wind. Her hair is twisted back into her braid, and she has her jacket zipped up with one of her hands shoved down into one of the pockets.

She still hasn't seen him yet, and Percy stands underneath the wall, staring up at her until she looks down.

Reyna looks surprised for a few seconds before a small smile graces her face. She finishes with Blake before dropping down to the ground and walking toward him.

"Hey," Reyna says. "Did you need something?"

Percy shakes his head and shoves his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out and taking hers. "No, I was just wondering what you were doing."

She raises an eyebrow, but smiles anyway. She touches his elbow gently, pulling on his arm until he falls into step with her. They walk down the street for a bit before Reyna says, "I love my jacket."

Percy honest to god _blushes_ because he's not used to Reyna thanking him for anything. Of course, he knows that she's always thankful for the things he does, but she never just outright tells him that multiple times.

His voice is rough when he says, "Good. I'm glad."

"What have you been doing today?" She asks, thankfully changing the subject.

"I helped Frank move some of the new supplies over to the basement earlier today then I ate lunch after my guard shift on the wall," he says.

Reyna nods, but before she can say anything, Gwen is stepping out onto the street from the apartment building and calling her name. She sighs and squeezes Percy's arm again before moving away. She says, "Sorry, Percy."

He laughs a little, "It's fine. Go ahead. People need you and all that."

"We're having a meeting later with Frank," Reyna says with a nod. "I probably won't see you until then."

Percy wonders what their "meeting" is going to be about and why they're having one, but she's already walking toward Gwen, so Percy nods and calls out a goodbye before heading back down to the north gate.

Ω

"Percy!"

He turns at his name, looking down to the ground to find Frank waving at him. Percy's been on guard duty for the rest of the afternoon since pretty much everyone else was busy. Frank was taking some supplies over to the settlement, and Hazel was working with some of the others to get the lower floors of the apartment building ready for colder weather. Percy hasn't seen Reyna since their walk earlier. He's not really sure what she's been doing.

"Yeah?" Percy calls out.

"We're having a debriefing," Frank says, running a hand over his shaved head. "Dakota is on his way for guard duty so meet us in the garden when he gets here."

Percy nods along, watching Frank disappear down the street.

The sun is starting to set now, and from the north gate, Percy can see the sky bleed into different colors. The road outside of camp is barren and deserted, and it looks like something out of an old movie. It's peaceful, and it makes Percy forget what really happens outside of these walls.

It takes Dakota a few more minutes to get there, but Percy finally passes off his rifle and climbs down from the wall so he can head to meet Frank and Reyna.

The rest of the camp is quiet save for the low murmur he can hear from the pavilion where everyone else is probably eating dinner. He doesn't pass anybody on his way to the apartment building, but he pulls his jacket tighter around his shoulders.

Percy's relieved to duck out of the cold wind when he finally gets inside. He makes his way to the end of the hall, carefully easing the door open to the garden.

Frank and Hazel are sitting on a bench on the right side of the small space. They're holding hands, but Hazel is scowling at something while Frank talks. Reyna is leaning against the wooden fence that is right up against the wall. She doesn't look amused, instead her eyebrows are furrowed, like she's concerned with something.

"Hey," Percy announces himself, letting the door close behind him. "What's up?"

Reyna shifts her eyes to him, and Frank stops talking. Percy wonders what he's interrupted, noticing that Reyna wasn't smiling for the first time today.

"These two," Hazel starts, her scowl deepening as she stares at Frank. "Want to scout the area for Octavian."

Percy freezes, and he cuts his eyes over to Reyna immediately. Her face doesn't give anything away, and Percy doesn't really understand why they want to do this now.

"Why?" Percy asks. He can definitely understand going after Octavian, but it seems like it's a little late for that now.

"We think he's in the area," Frank explains, turning away from Hazel and toward Percy.

"Why? Has someone seen him?" Percy asks again because there has to be a _reason_ if they think Octavian is back around Camp.

Reyna speaks up, "There's been dead animals placed at one of the lower areas on the west wall, drawing walkers into the area."

"How long has it been going on?" Percy tips his head to the side because this is the first time that he's heard of this.

She shoots Frank a look before she says, "Almost two weeks."

And okay, Percy shouldn't be upset about it because Reyna and Frank are the primary leaders of the camp and they probably just didn't want to worry them, but—

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Percy's voice is tenser than he means for it to be.

"We didn't recognize a pattern at first, so we didn't realize it was happening every few days. There haven't been many walkers there, and Blake usually monitors it a few times a day," Reyna explains, pushing off of the wall so she's standing up straight.

Percy doesn't really understand why Reyna and Frank kept this between the two of them and Blake (after all, Percy thought he was higher up on the ladder than Blake), but he doesn't really question it. Maybe they hadn't wanted Percy and Hazel to worry? Maybe—

"So why didn't you tell us sooner?" Hazel says before Percy can get the question out of his mouth. She's staring at Frank now with a frown on her face, and Percy can see how worried she really is.

"My decision," Reyna says before Frank answers. "We didn't want you two to worry until we knew it was a real problem."

Percy rolls his eyes, and his good mood from earlier sours a bit. "We're not kids. If something is going on, we should know about it too."

"Then you might also want to know that we've lost contact with the settlement," Frank mutters as he stares down at the ground. Reyna sends him a deadly glare.

 _"_ _What?"_ Hazel asks, jerking away from Frank this time. She stands up, and she's so short that her figure barely passes Frank from where he's still sitting. "How long?"

"It's only been about sixteen hours," Reyna buts in, staring at Frank like she's going to kill him later. "Nonetheless, we are a bit concerned, so I'm heading over there as soon as we're done here."

"Reyna," Percy starts, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's dark. You can't drive over there. And what if no one is there to let you in the gate anyway?"

She frowns, but she doesn't look like she's mad at him at least. "I'm not driving. It's only a few miles."

"You should wait until morning," he argues.

"If something has happened, they may not last until morning. If it's just the batteries being dead, then I can radio in when I get there and wait until the morning to come back. There haven't been that many walkers in the area lately, and we need to make sure that Raven is alive and the walls are still up. We've put too much effort into it for us to lose it because of time," Reyna says, pacing across the small garden.

Frank nods, "We can't afford to lose this place because of a few hours difference. I'm going with Reyna."

"No," Hazel objects, crossing her arms over her chest. "We can't afford to lose _either_ of you. No one should go."

Reyna narrows her gaze. Her shoulders are tense, and her eyes are harder than they were a few minutes ago.

"Fine," Percy says, staring at Hazel. Her eyes are on fire, and she looks like she could rip someone's head off. "Hazel and I will go if it's so important."

Hazel looks surprised at that, but she agrees in less than a second. She nods quickly, stepping away from Frank so she can stand at Percy's side.

But Frank and Reyna are both on their feet now. Frank is shaking his head and rushing about how _it's too dangerous_ and _you guys could get hurt_ or _it won't take Reyna and I as long as it will take you guys._ Reyna is just staring at the both of them while Frank babbles on and on. He reaches out for Hazel's hand, but she moves back a bit.

Reyna's voice is even when she says, "Percy, you and Hazel should stay here and protect the camp while Frank and I go."

He shakes his head, "No. You and Frank stay here, Hazel and I go. If Octavian is such a big threat anyway, then the two of you should be here in case he comes back."

There's six excruciating seconds of silence before Reyna says, "Fine."

 _"_ _What?!"_ Frank explodes, holding his hands up. " _No._ Hazel, you can't—"

"Yes, I can," she argues, staring at him.

Frank looks helplessly over at Reyna, "Reyna—"

"Like Percy said, this is the best option," she starts. There's something in her voice that Percy doesn't understand, and really, she agreed a bit _too_ easily. "Percy and Hazel go. Frank and I stay here."

Frank's eyebrows are furrowed, and his face is red, like he's embarrassed about this whole situation. He splutters for a few seconds. "But—"

"No buts," Reyna says with a nod. "That's the plan. We get them backpacks and a few supplies they can carry together. They leave at dawn."

Percy feels his optimism fall. No _wonder_ Reyna had given in so quickly. She wasn't going to let them go until morning anyway.

"Dawn?" Hazel asks. "But you said it was—"

"If Frank and I aren't going at all, you two aren't going until the morning. Those few hours may not cost us much, but if it does, you'll have to deal with it when you get there or come back and get us," Reyna explains. Her face is set in a neutral expression, and Percy knows that she's made her mind up.

Percy hears Hazel huff out an annoyed breath, but Frank looks relieved. He sets his hand on Reyna's shoulder as he brushes past her to get to the door. He doesn't look at any of them as he leaves.

When it's just the three of them left, a heavy silence hangs over them. Reyna is studying them now, and Percy tries not to fidget under her gaze.

He's about to turn away and head back to his own room when Reyna finally speaks.

"I had two backpacks ready to go in my room for when we got ready to leave. Stop on you way out and get them so you can go," she says.

Percy frowns, "In the morning?'

"No. You're going right now."

Hazel cocks her head, frowning too. "But you just told us that we had to wait."

"There's no time," she explains. "If we wait too long, we could lose the settlement, and if you won't let us go, then you're going to have to go right now."

"But why did you tell Frank we were waiting until tomorrow?" Hazel asks.

"He would have never let you leave this camp at this time of night without him, Hazel," Reyna says with an eye roll. "I'm not sure what he remembers when you were out on the road, but I recall you saving his ass a lot more than the other way around."

Hazel breathes out a laugh, "Yeah."

"You go straight down the road from the south gate. After three miles there is an abandoned gas station. Do _not_ go inside of it, understand? When you get to that point, there is another road. Take a left on it, and after two more miles, you should see the gates. I don't know what you're going to find, or who's going to be there. If Octavian or _anyone_ else besides Raven is there, you turn around and come straight back. If there are too many walkers, you _turn around and come back._ Got it?" Reyna says forcefully, alternating her gaze between the two of them. Percy and Hazel both nod, and he desperately tries to remember her directions. He hopes Hazel does too.

"You're taking a car, so we'll get one from the parking lot and I can let you out of the gate here. Percy, come with me and grab those backpacks."

He nods silently and follows Reyna out of the garden and into her room a few doors down.

She kicks the door closed behind them and grabs a fistful of Percy's shirt before hauling him in closer to her. Her voice is deadly serious when she says, "Don't do anything stupid, do you understand me? I'm coming after you if you don't radio me in an hour if I can keep Frank under control for that long."

Percy nods again and lets one of his hands come up to rest on Reyna's side. He pulls his other hand up to her face and trails his fingers over her cheek.

His voice is rough when he says, "Okay."

"You don't have to go."

"Yeah we do."

She sighs in frustration and lets go of his shirt, her hand smoothing out the wrinkles she caused. "Do _not_ get hurt. Either of you. Understand?"

Percy uses his hand at the back of her neck and tugs her into a hug, resting his head on her shoulders. "We won't."

She pulls away and holds him at arm's length. "One hour. Got it?"

"Yeah."

Reyna frowns and steps away from him, grabbing the backpacks and tossing them to him. "Then let's get you out of here before Frank finds out."

 **A/N: See you next Wednesday! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey, guys! Don't forget to come over to tumblr and talk to me. My url is somethingmorecreative1**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** ** _Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead,_** **or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**

 _-1142015-_

The car is dark, and the roads are silent. It makes the hair on the back of Percy's neck stand up, but he never says anything to Hazel because he knows that she's nervous too.

"It's been a while since you've been out of Camp," Percy comments quietly. He's driving, and the car is creeping along the road slowly. He turned the parking lights on before they left Camp, but kept the headlights off to keep the brightness down. It's not that he's afraid of one or two walkers coming near them, but if Octavian really is in the area, then he doesn't want him to see them.

Hazel nods. She's sitting in the passenger seat, holding a rifle against her chest. One of her hands rests against the barrel of the gun, and her other is sitting on the door close to the handle. She's biting her bottom lip too, but there is a fierce look on her face, and Percy knows that she would shoot Octavian just as quickly as he would if they saw him.

Her voice is soft when she says, "It makes Frank nervous if I leave, and I don't like to worry him when he's trying to take care of the rest of the camp. I can handle myself against walkers just like anyone else, but Frank—he lost everything when it all started and…"

Percy fills in the blanks, "And you're all he has left."

She sighs, "Yeah. That's why I don't leave Camp. He's not like you, Percy. Losing anything else, losing me… well, I'm afraid he wouldn't come back from that."

He nods because he knows what it feels like to lose everything. He knows what it feels like to have everything taken away in a split second, and he's seen people go crazy and lose their minds because of it. It strikes Percy that Hazel is just as brave as the rest of them. If Reyna never let him leave Camp because she was worried about him, Percy wouldn't be able to stand it, but Hazel—she stays in Camp to keep Frank from worrying so he can keep the rest of them safe. And just—Percy thinks that it's one of the bravest and smartest things that he has ever heard.

They sit in silence after that. Percy presses the gas pedal a little harder, and the car creeps along the deserted road. The moon is thin tonight, and it barely gives them any extra light to go by.

The three miles that it takes to get to the turn seem to last forever. Percy sees a small gas station at the corner of the street. It's too dark to tell, but it looks like the windows are boarded up.

"Why did Reyna tell us not to go in there?" Hazel asks, leaning across the console so she can get a better look.

Percy shrugs, "She never lets me come this way when I go out. I've never even been over here."

"Me either."

Percy turns onto the road and keeps driving.

"Why do you think they keep so many secrets?" He asks a few minutes later.

Hazel sighs again, brushing one of her hands through her thick curls, "I think they think that they need to protect us just like everybody else. I mean, it's stupid because we could get hurt doing something like this because they don't tell us anything except for what we hear during dinner."

"Yeah," Percy agrees, falling silent again.

The two miles it takes to get to the settlement don't take long. Before he knows it, he's stopping the car and pulling the key out of the ignition, grabbing his own rifle and signaling to Hazel.

The metal walls are twice as high here, raising up to an impossible height. The outsides are smooth too, and they won't be able to climb up these or jump over. As far as Percy can see in the dark, they stretch out in both directions until they disappear with the darkness. He's not sure how long it will take to walk around them, but they might not have that kind of time. He's supposed to radio back to Reyna in a few minutes or they're going to assume something went wrong and come all the way over here.

"Percy," Hazel murmurs, looking over at him. "What do we do?"

Her voice isn't loud at all, but before Percy can answer he hears something shuffling closer to them.

"I got it," she says, flipping her rifle up.

The walker stumbles out of the dark, it's gray and bloody arms reaching out toward them. There's an awful hissing sound coming from its mouth, and Hazel waits until it is close enough to slam the butt of her rifle into its head until it falls to the ground.

"It's been a long time since I've done that," she says afterwards. Percy can't really decide if she sounds happy about it.

Before he can say anything else, he hears the click of someone sliding the safety off of a gun before a cold voice cuts through the night and growls, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Percy and Hazel's heads snap up. Above them, there's a rifle pointing down toward, aimed in the general direction of Percy's head. Percy can't really see the owner's face, but he watches as the finger starts to squeeze down on the trigger.

"Thalia!" Hazel says hurriedly, more panic in her voice than Percy likes or is used to. "It's me! Hazel!"

The finger pauses for a second. "Hazel?"

"Yes! From Camp Jupiter!"

"What the fuck are you doing out here?" Thalia, apparently, asks. Percy doesn't think that he's ever heard anyone mention that name before. Her voice is short, but there's something else there that Percy can't quite pinpoint. "We didn't contact Camp."

"Reyna and Frank sent us to check on you," Hazel explains. "Let us in."

Thalia hesitates, pulling back from the gun. It's too dark for Percy to see what she looks like, but he can hear her frown in her voice. "Who is that with you?"

"This is Percy."

"I don't know him. I'm not supposed to let anyone I don't know in. Reyna's orders."

Hazel huffs and rolls her eyes. "I can promise you if you make him stand out here and he gets hurt, Reyna will fucking kill you."

It's the first time that Percy has ever heard Hazel use any profanity, but it makes him grin at her.

Thalia's voice is a bit delighted when she says, "Really?"

"Yes, so let us in! There are walkers out here," Hazel says, ducking under the strap of her rifle so it hangs across her back.

There is a slight pause before Percy hears her agree and then she tosses a rope ladder down over the side of the wall. Hazel sends him a quick look before nodding and climbing up the ladder.

Percy throws his rifle over his shoulder so it clings to his back as he follows up the ladder after Hazel, He thinks that he can hear another walker in the distance, but he makes it up the wall before it gets anywhere close to him.

There is a wooden platform built a few feet under the top of the wall, and it's easy to climb over the metal sheet and drop down onto it. It's the perfect height to rest guns and weapons on and to post guards, and Percy realizes that they must have built it like that on purpose.

He's close enough now to see Thalia. She has dark hair like Reyna's, but it's way shorter, cut close to her ears and spiked up in different directions. Her face is sharp and angular, but there's a smirk on her face now. Percy scowls because she's staring at him with that expression, and it reminds him of his younger years in school when he would be singled out by his classmates for something stupid. He doesn't want to go back there.

"What?" He says. His voice is a bit irritable, and he should probably calm down before she pushes him over the side of the wall.

"You just look like the type of guy Reyna would claim," she comments. Before Percy can argue, she starts to climb down a ladder facing the inside of the wall.

Percy sends Hazel a frown, but she follows Thalia down the ladder anyways. He sighs and goes too.

Ω

Thalia isn't any less annoying by the time they get to the military base at the other end of the camp where they stay and keep guard. She keeps looking back at him and grinning, like she knows something that he doesn't, and it's really infuriating. She never says anything directly to him either, choosing to talk to Hazel instead—which is great; he doesn't want to talk to her anyway.

Even though it is dark, the settlement looks amazing. The walls are all built out of sheets of metal reinforced with wood platforms for guards to stand on. It's bigger too, and Percy wonders why they haven't moved over here yet. This seems like a better place than Camp Jupiter, especially with the military base and other buildings.

They enter the base through a garage door, finally stepping into the light. He can hear another person shuffling around somewhere, and as they get deeper into the garage, he finally spots them.

"Raven," Thalia calls. "We have visitors."

The other girl, Raven, stands up abruptly, cursing and wiping her hands on her jeans. She's got dark brown hair too and dark skin. There's a bandana tied over her hair, and even though it's cold outside, she's wearing a tank top _and_ sweating.

"Hazel," Raven greets with a nod. Then she turns her gaze to Percy. "Who's that?"

"Percy," Thalia cuts in. "I've heard he belongs to Reyna."

"Oh really?"

Percy blushes and clenches his hands into fists in his jacket pocket, but instead of saying anything, he stays silent. They're not exactly _wrong,_ but he's not sure what's going on and he's sure as hell not going to mess it up by saying something dumb.

"Reyna sent us because you didn't contact Camp earlier," Hazel explains, glancing at Percy nervously, like she's afraid he might say something to start a fight.

Raven nods, "I fried the circuits when I tried to power the whole building. I had to get the batteries out of the radios so I could reroute and save the generators. We've looked for more batteries, but we're down to scraps in supplies. Frank and Reyna were coming over for a meeting in the morning. Why did they send you now?"

"They're worried that Octavian is in the area," Percy says before he can stop himself. Hazel shoots him a look, and Percy shrugs. Reyna and Frank should have given them more information if they didn't want them telling people about it.

But Raven and Thalia both look like they understand. Thalia is nodding already, "Yeah, they've mentioned that."

"Did you guys bring batteries?" Raven asks.

"Yeah," Percy says, pulling the small bag out of his jacket pocket and handing it to her. "We're supposed to radio Reyna within the hour."

Thalia snorts as Raven walks off, "Of course you are. She must be keeping tabs on you then."

Percy hates to hit a girl, but he's not afraid to throw a punch at Thalia if she keeps making those comments. She seems sturdy enough too; she could probably take a good hit without going down. Hazel must sense his anger because she interrupts and says, "Actually, it's probably to keep Frank from going crazy. Reyna had to lie and tell him we weren't leaving until dawn."

"So he still doesn't let you leave his sight, huh?" Thalia muses, setting her gun down and leaning against it.

"He doesn't tell me what to do," Hazel corrects fiercely. Her eyes are burning now, glinting under the fluorescents. "He and Reyna were worried that something bad had happened over here."

"It kind of did," Raven announces, walking back into the room. "We're going to be lucky if I can fix this shit. Not to mention now it's going to take longer before we can get moved over here."

Percy hesitates when he's about to say something about them not coming until after winter. He wonders if Frank and Reyna have told them about that decision yet, but if they haven't Percy sure as hell doesn't want to be the one that does. It must be awful—being over here all of the time and guarding this whole place with just two people.

Raven gets the radio working, and then Percy can hear Reyna's voice through the small speaker.

"Raven," Reyna says. "What's going on over there?"

"Hazel and Lover Boy just got here with the batteries," she says. Percy can hear Thalia smirking, but he refuses to look at her in case he's blushing. "But you could have waited until morning to bring them. Over."

"Are they alright? Over."

"Fine. No activity here at base either. I'll explain in the morning. Over," Raven says.

"Let me talk to Percy."

Percy's not really sure what to say when Raven hands him the radio, so he pulls it up to his mouth and presses the button, "Hey."

Her voice sounds relieved when she answers, "Are you and Hazel okay?"

"We're fine," he says. "Does Frank know we left?"

"Yes. He's standing on the wall waiting."

Hazel takes the radio out of his hands before Percy can answer her. Her voice is short when she says, "We're coming back now."

There's a slight pause before Reyna agrees. "Fine. Come straight back. I'll be waiting at the gate."

Hazel hands the radio back to Raven, and she turns it off, setting it on the charger on a table across the room. Thalia is standing with her arms crossed, watching the both of them, and Percy stares back at her.

"Why don't you guys just stay here?" Raven asks. "We don't mind."

"We know," Hazel says quickly, glancing over at Percy until he nods. "I don't want to be away from Frank. It makes him nervous."

Thalia nods too and laughs a bit, "I remember that time you and Blake went out on a supply run, and we got stranded for the night. Frank was _crazy_ when we got back, demanding to go out and look for us when we didn't come back that night. I remember Reyna having to threaten to tie him up if he didn't calm down that day."

Hazel blushes, "Yeah. We have some extra supplies in the car if you guys want them."

"We'll be fine," Raven says as she walks back over to them. "Reyna is bringing more over in the morning. Maybe she'll bring Lover Boy back with her."

Percy scowls when they laugh, but Hazel laughs lightly too. "I doubt it, right, Percy? She's not as bad as Frank, but…"

Raven nods along, saving Percy from further embarrassment. "I'm going to try and get this stuff fixed before they get here in the morning, so Thalia can help you guys get back out. Hopefully we'll see you guys soon."

They nod and give her a quick goodbye before she's walking away. Thalia grabs her rifle, and they start back outside. It's darker, and Percy wonders what time it is. He's kind of tired, but it's exhilarating being outside of Camp on a mission this late at night. Not that he would want to do it every day, but it's kind of fun for a change.

They climb back up the wall, and Thalia drops the rope ladder down for them. Hazel takes the car keys from him and starts down first, but before he can follow, Thalia grabs his shirt to get his attention.

"It was good to meet you, Lover Boy," she says. There's a weird glint in her eyes that Percy doesn't understand, and there are too many shadows now, preventing him from seeing her expression. "It's nice that Reyna has someone now, but if you _ever_ hurt her and I hear about it, and I _will_ hear about it, I'll rip your heart out and feed it to the walkers. Got it?"

He nods seriously, and she lets go of his shirt, giving him another nod before he starts down the ladder. Hazel is standing on the ground, rifle ready, and he silently moves over to the car door, watching Thalia pull the ladder back up and over the wall. He starts the car as Hazel climbs in.

When they're on their way back, moving quickly along the road this time, Percy looks over at Hazel. "So you can stay out of Camp one night, but when I do it, you yell at me for it, huh?"

It's dark, but Percy would bet anything that she blushes. "Shut up, Percy."

He laughs quietly, turning his attention back to the road.

Suddenly, Percy sees bodies in the road, stumbling towards them and the car headlights. Before he can stop, he hits the first row of walkers, and the impact throws his body forward until his seat belt catches him. He jerks the wheel to avoid the rest of them, and the car spins in a circle, coming to a sudden stop in the road.

"You okay?" Hazel asks, gripping her head in her hands.

"Yeah," he says. His voice is hoarse, and the car is dead now. The battery was so old anyway and they don't have time to fix it before—

He looks out of the window, and the rest of the walkers are stumbling toward them. Percy can't tell how many it is, but they can't get trapped in this car.

"We need to go. Right now," he says, reaching back to grab his backpack and toss Hazel hers. There's a cut on her forehead, but they don't have time to worry about that either.

She nods and throws open her car door, shooting the walkers that were too close to her. Percy does the same, rushing around the hood of the car to meet her. Percy kicks a walker next to him and sends a bullet under its chin and through its brain.

"We're being too loud!" Hazel shouts. The guns are causing too much noise, but it's either that or die and they don't really have another option. "We'll never make it back to Camp like this!"

And just at that moment, Percy remembers where they are. He had been about to turn onto the other road, so it had to be close—

"The gas station!" Percy yells, grabbing a walker that gets too close to Hazel and tossing it away from her. "We have to go, _now!"_

They run down the road, and a herd of walkers follows them through the dark.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hey, guys! Don't forget to check me out on tumblr. My url is somethingmorecreative1 Also, my semester is coming to an end, so I'm going to skip next week for the update. Expect CH 15 on Wednesday, November 25. Thanks!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything else you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy.**

 _-11112015-_

Percy doesn't really remember that Reyna told them not to go near the gas station until he's close to the door, ripping a panel of wood from the front of it and breaking some of the glass so he can unlock it. Hazel is standing at his back, shooting some of the walkers that get too close to them.

She shouts his name, pleading with him to hurry up. Percy gives up with the lock, instead bringing his foot to the door and kicking it in. He grabs the back of Hazel's shirt and hauls her inside the dark building. They slam the doors closed just as the walkers crowd them in, and Percy desperately holds his body weight against the doors, ignoring one of the hands that is reaching inside and pulling at his shoulder.

"Find something to push against it!" He shouts to Hazel, gritting his teeth and shoving his weight back against the door to keep them from coming inside.

When Hazel moves farther away from him and into the shadows of the room, he hears another growl before Hazel yells, and there are _walkers inside this place._

Hazel jumps back against him, and Percy can barely make out the walkers coming toward them in the dark.

"Hazel—" Percy starts. His voice wobbles as he pushes back against the crowd of walkers outside the doors. His feet are slipping against the dusty floor and oh god, "I can't—"

She jumps to her feet, standing in front of him and putting herself between him and the walkers inside. She grabs her rifle and smashes the first walker to the ground, screaming to Percy. "Don't let them in!"

His feet slide against the concrete, but he stays on the door, keeping his weight held against it. He doesn't know how many walkers are outside, but there are definitely too many for them to handle without—

Hazel keeps herself planted in front of him, waiting for the walkers to come out of the dark before smashing their heads. When two stumbles toward her at the same time, she rolls underneath the first one and pulls the trigger on her rifle, sending a bullet flying through both of the walkers' heads.

Percy isn't sure how long it takes or how many walkers Hazel kills before she finally shoves a heavy desk over to Percy. He holds the doors for as long as he can, and when he jumps out of the way, they throw the desk back against the doors, blocking the walkers outside.

They both take a second to catch their breath before Percy looks up at Hazel, "Are you hurt?"

She's covered in blood, making her face blend in more with the shadows. She's breathing hard too, struggling to stand up straight now. She leans heavily against her rifle before she shakes her head. "It's… been a while since I—killed that many walkers."

"You didn't… none of them bit you or scratched you, right?" Percy asks carefully, dreading the answer that he might get. He doesn't think he can—how could he… Hazel _has_ to be okay. She _has to._

Thankfully, she shakes her head again. "No, no. I'm fine. I'm fine."

He lets out a sigh, and they're both silent for a few seconds.

"No wonder Reyna told us not to come in here," Hazel says.

Percy lets out a breath. "Yeah, seriously."

Once they catch their breath, Percy and Hazel grab their guns and backpacks before weaving through the dark gas station. There aren't any supplies here, and the stench is almost unbearable because of the walkers that have been locked up in here.

There is a backdoor on the other side of the building, and Percy presses his ear to the metal. He doesn't hear anything outside, and if they can slip out and run back toward Camp without the front crowd of walkers noticing, they would be really fucking lucky.

But they don't have another choice so Percy nods to Hazel and opens the door.

There aren't any walkers gathered here yet, but as soon as Percy steps through the door, he feels a hand grab his throat and throw him forward.

Before he can yell, there's another hand on his mouth, pressing hard against his jaw.

The voice is cold and quiet, "Hazel, put the fucking gun down before I strangle Jackson."

He hears Hazel huff and lower her rifle. He can't see anything except for the road right now because whoever is holding him has him facing the road. He doesn't recognize the voice either, but if this guy knows their names then—

"You're going to get us killed," Hazel whispers.

"No," they say. "I'm going to get back to Camp."

Ω

Percy doesn't really remember Brad from Camp. He had been one of Octavian's followers, sure, but Percy had never been around him long enough to know his voice or recognize him on the spot.

From what Percy can understand, Brad must have been left behind when Octavian and his guys killed all of those people and fled Camp that day. He must have been hiding in the woods around the area ever since.

Percy wishes he could get his hands on his gun. He would shot the goddamn idiot right here and leave his body for the walkers to eat.

Now, they were walking down the road. Brad, a bigger guy, had a knife pressing into Percy's side. The tip was digging into his skin with every step that they took, and Percy could feel the blood dripping down his side. Hazel was walking beside him, and Brad had taken both of their rifles before keeping his own gun leveled at Hazel's head.

There are walkers following them down the street, but Brad is shoving them along quickly, keeping his eyes on the sides of the road in case any walkers come toward them.

The thing is, Percy knows that he and Hazel together could get free from Brad, but they might be injured in the process. With the knife pressing into Percy's abdomen already and a gun on Hazel's temple, it might get messy, especially with the walkers following them. And they're actually making pretty good time anyway. Percy can see the lights from the walls now, and it shouldn't take that much longer to get there.

"So how are you alive?" Percy asks suddenly, breaking through the silence and feigning boredom. "You still with Octavian? Is he around too? It'd be good to see him again."

Brad must be interested in talking because he answers quickly even though his voice is a bit softer than Percy's was. He quickens the pace before he says, "Octavian left me. Reyna shot out my car and killed Tristan, who was driving. I've been hiding in the woods since then, waiting for something like this to happen."

"Why didn't you just come back to Camp?" Hazel asks. "You weren't a bad guy, Brad. I saw you when you couldn't kill anyone and—"

"Reyna would have shot me if I came back, and you know it. We killed all those people, and Octavian—"

Brad stops when they see the wall.

Frank and Reyna are both standing on top of it. Percy can see a few other people around too, but Frank has his arms crossed over his chest, staring at Reyna. Her mouth is moving, but they're still so far away that Percy can't hear what she's saying. She doesn't look happy, and when someone yells and points toward Percy and Hazel on the ground, her eyes snap to his.

Brad shoves them forward, jabbing the knife into his side a bit deeper. Percy grits his teeth and shoots a look at Hazel. Her eyes are wide, and she winces when Brad presses the gun harder against her head.

"Don't do anything stupid or they're both dead," Brad calls, taking more steps toward the wall until they're close enough to see Frank and Reyna.

Her expression is murderous, and Percy swears that he has never seen her this mad before. Frank already has a rifle in his hand, taking a step forward to drop down from the wall, but Reyna holds out an arm to stop him. His face twists angrily, but he stays at her side.

"You're about to be dead if I let those walkers eat you," Reyna answers. Her voice is cold and unyielding, and Percy and Hazel both flinch even though it's not directed at them.

Percy can hear the walkers behind them, but he can also see a few snipers on top of the wall with rifles in their hands, getting ready to shoot. Reyna won't let Percy and Hazel get hurt. She won't.

"Just—" Brad's voice cracks. "Let me come inside. I won't hurt anyone again."

"You're hurting them right now!" Frank roars. "I should fucking _kill you_ —"

"Frank," Reyna interrupts. Her eyes catch on Percy's again, and they're lucky that he knows her well enough to read her facial expressions.

Before anyone else says anything, Percy glances at Hazel. She's already looking at him, and Percy counts down from three silently. When he gets to one, he jerks his arm up and knocks the gun away from Hazel's head. There's a shot, but Hazel ducks just in time, rolling to the ground and kicking Brad's legs out from under him. Percy spins around too, but he's too close to him and he catches the glimpse of metal before he feels the sharp edge of the knife slide across his neck and oh—

Brad falls to the ground, and Hazel scrambles to grab the gun that he dropped. Percy stumbles on his feet, one hand clutching his throat, and when he looks up, he can see walkers dropping to the ground from the shots that are ringing out from the wall.

Percy watches as Reyna and Frank drop down from the wall, sprinting toward them. Frank is firing shots at some of the walkers, but Reyna is running toward Percy right now and he's not really sure what happened to Hazel so when he turns back around to find her, he feels something jab him in the side.

Hazel tackles Brad from where he was kneeling with his knife plunged into Percy's side. Brad has at least two hundred pounds on her easily, and when he pins her to the ground, reaching up with the knife, Percy jumps toward them, snatching Brad off of her and throwing him to the side. There's blood on his hands, but Percy is seeing _red_ when he follows and leans down to punch Brad in the jaw over and over and over and—

Brad gets an arm around Percy though, flipping them over until he slams Percy's head against the concrete. Brad throws his fist into Percy's cheek, and Percy grapples for a hold on him. It doesn't help, and Brad keeps punching until Percy can't see straight anymore.

It stops just as suddenly, and then the weight is gone from Percy's chest. When he gets his eyes open, he sees Frank standing a few feet away, the barrel of his rifle pressed against the back of Brad's head.

Someone hauls him up off the ground, and Percy blinks to try and stop the world from spinning. Hazel is standing under his arm, wrapping one arm around his waist to keep him upright. She has one of her other hand pressing to the cut on his throat to try and stop the bleeding. He thinks that he hears her crying, but his ears are ringing a bit and—

His vision focuses when Reyna steps into his line of sight. She's staring at Brad now, who's crying and begging her to let him come inside. Percy sees her shake her head before pulling out her gun, and his stomach drops when he realizes she's about to shoot him, like an execution.

But instead, Reyna says, "Aim for the kneecaps, Frank."

Frank growls, moving around to stand beside her. They both pull their guns up, and Reyna counts before they shoot at the exact same time, right at Brad's knees.

He screams and falls to the ground, reaching out toward Reyna's feet and begging them not to do this, to save him, and it takes Percy a few seconds to realize what's going on.

Reyna does lean down toward him, but there's a snarl on her face, and she says, "You should have thought about what I would do to you before you started this. Now, you get to die. Let's get them inside, Frank."

Brad is still screaming, and that's when Percy sees the walkers stumbling out of the dark and toward them.

Percy can hear Hazel yelling something too, but nothing makes sense as Frank pulls Percy and Hazel toward the gates. Reyna stares at Brad until following them, ordering the snipers on the wall to hold their fire, and then the gates are closing behind them and that doesn't help because he can still hear Brad screaming and—

Hazel jerks away from Frank when he reaches out to touch her. She's crying too. "Why did you do that? Why couldn't you just _kill him?_ "

"He had a gun to your head, Hazel," Reyna says. Her voice is still cold, and she reaches out to touch Percy's face. "We need to get Percy taken care of right now—"

Her voice drops when the screams stop, and she looks up toward the wall, "Kill the rest of those walkers when they finish and stay on guard duty tonight. Nothing comes near this wall, are we clear?"

Percy can't really see straight anymore, and he feels sick to his stomach. His eyes are drooping close, and when he starts swaying on his feet, he feels someone catch him before he hits the ground.

Ω

The first thing that Percy notices when he wakes up is the bad taste in his mouth. The second thing he notices is someone's hand in his.

He twists his head carefully, grimacing when his neck burns. When he looks up, he expects to see Reyna sitting beside him, but instead, it's Hazel. She's got her legs pulled up to her knees with her head resting on her chin. She's staring at the wall, and Percy starts to feel nervous when he sees her blank expression.

His voice is hoarse, and his throat is sore when he croaks out, "Hazel?"

Her eyes snap over to him immediately, and she relaxes a bit, pulling one of her hands up to his forehead to press her palm against his skin. She sighs, "I'm glad you're awake, Percy. How do you feel?"

His body is aching and his head is hurting and he's extremely thirsty, but he says, "I'm fine. Where's Reyna?"

"They went on to the settlement this morning. They're supposed to be back in a few hours," she says with a frown.

Percy lets out a groan, "I figured they wouldn't be able to leave after what happened."

She's quiet for a few seconds before she whispers, "I told Frank I couldn't stand to look at him after what they did. Reyna came back and checked on you before they left."

He stays quiet.

"I just… Percy, why couldn't they just kill him?" Hazel says. Her eyes are wide, and she has tears gathered in them, and he doesn't really know what to say.

"I don't know," he whispers, replaying Brad's screams in his ears. "I don't know."

Hazel tightens her hand around his and leans back until she's curled up at his side. Percy didn't have any siblings before any of this started, and he wonders if this is what it feels like to have a little brother or sister.

"I don't know if I'm going to be able to look at Frank the same way again," she murmurs, hiding her face behind her free hand. "They let those walkers _eat_ Brad. Why couldn't they have just shot him?"

Percy swallows the lump in his throat. Even though it did scare him to see them do _that,_ he can't stand the thought of Hazel not being able to speak or look at Frank because of it. Both of them would fall apart without each other. His voice is rough when he says, "They did it to protect us."

"They did it to get revenge."

"For hurting us," Percy adds.

"I just…" She grips his hand tighter. "It's too much. They shouldn't have done that."

He nods, "They shouldn't have, but they did. Frank and Reyna couldn't see straight because we were both hurt. That's their weakness, Hazel. When I was on the road with Annabeth, I would have done _anything_ to protect her. Even now with Reyna… if someone was hurting her, I would go crazy too. You would do the same thing for Frank. It's just, it's something that you have to do now. You have to protect the people you love."

Hazel stares at him for a few seconds. Her voice is flat when she says, "Not like that."

Percy doesn't really know what to say so he lets them fall into silence.

Ω

By the time Frank and Reyna get back, Percy and Hazel are already up and walking around Camp.

Hazel follows close behind him, watching his steps because his side is sore from the knife wound that Brad gave him. He has a tight bandage around his throat from the knife too, and it takes him a while to realize that he is incredibly lucky. If the knife had gone any deeper, he would be dead. Hazel is worried that he could get too dizzy and pass out, even when Percy had rolled his eyes and told her that he would be fine.

They're walking down the street close to the South gate when they see it open. Blake and a few of the other guys have taken care of guard duty all day, so Percy and Hazel have just been resting because of their injuries. He also suspects that Reyna ordered the others not to let them help even if they tried.

Percy watches as Frank and Reyna get out of the car. They speak with Blake for a few minutes about something that looks serious, but then Blake leaves to move the car to the lot and Frank and Reyna look down toward them.

He turns his gaze toward Hazel. She's biting her lip as she looks toward Frank. Percy reaches out and gives her a little push and a small nod.

Frank stares for a second before he jogs toward her, and when she holds out her arms, he grabs her and holds her close. His mouth is moving, but Percy can't tell what he's saying because Hazel is nodding so it must be okay—

Percy jumps when someone touches his arm, and he turns away from Frank and Hazel to find Reyna. Her mouth is held in a solid line, like she's biting back a frown. Her eyes are dark, but they're full of concern as she stares at him.

"Hey," Percy says roughly. His voice is still hoarse from earlier, and he hopes that it won't sound like that forever.

"How do you feel?" She asks.

He shrugs, "I'm fine."

"I shouldn't have let you go," she says.

"You shouldn't have let those walkers eat Brad," Percy comments without thinking, staring past her shoulder.

She sets two fingers on his chin and turns his face back toward hers. Her eyes are blazing, and her voice is rough too when she says, "Then what should I have done, Percy?"

"You could have just killed him," he mumbles, looking down at the ground.

"And if it had been me out there instead of you? Me with a knife in my side and a cut on my throat about to be killed by walkers because of him? Would you have been able to _just_ shoot him?" Reyna asks dangerously. She inches her face closer to his, until Percy could lean forward and kiss her, but with her expression now, that's the furthest thing from his mind.

Percy flinches, and Reyna must take that as her answer because she moves out of his space.

"I didn't mean to scare you and Hazel when I did that," Reyna apologizes now, gently touching his shoulder. "I just couldn't stand the thought of him being able to die without suffering after almost killing you and Hazel."

"It's okay," he mumbles again.

"No, it's not," she says, staring at him with those dark eyes. "But it has to be."

Percy stares back at her for a few seconds before nodding and looking away.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm excited to share this chapter with y'all, and make sure to tell me what you think. Because my semester is coming to an end and finals are starting, I'm going to postpone the chapters of this story for a few weeks. Expect the next chapter in about three weeks, and I'm gonna apologize in advance for the cliffhanger.**

 **Don't forget to come by my tumblr! My url is somethingmorecreative1**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Walking Dead, or anything you may recognize. The title is from Alone Together by Fall Out Boy._**

 _-11252015-_

The days start to get shorter, which means Percy gets up earlier and goes to bed sooner to avoid the cold and the dark. He isn't fond of either of them.

It's been almost a week since that night with Brad. Percy's wounds are getting better, but he doesn't miss the way that Reyna hovers around him, checking on him multiple times a day and sneaking into his room at night to make sure that he isn't running a fever. He wouldn't mind it, but it feels more like she's watching him than actually checking on him sometimes and for some reason, it makes him angry that she acts in that way. He knows that he cares about her, but he can't help but scowl when he hears her leave the room.

Even though Percy's body is healing, he doesn't _feel_ any better. At night, the nightmares haunt him, pulling him in with Brad's screams which turn to Annabeth's, then to Hazel's and Frank's and then to Reyna's and Percy wakes up feeling more tired than when he went to bed. When he goes outside of the apartment building, he feels like the towering walls are smothering him, like he can't breathe when he needs the air.

He hasn't been out of Camp since that night, and he knows that he needs to get some fresh air out in the open before he really does go crazy. He lets Hazel check his wounds and comment on how well they look before he tells her that he's going to scout for supplies.

She objects right off the bat, saying that he's not ready and that he could get hurt or—

"I have to get out of this camp," Percy blurts out. "I'm suffocating in here."

He doesn't really realize how true it is until it comes out of his mouth.

Hazel stares at him with wide eyes for a few seconds before turning her back to him. She puts the first aid supplies away, and Percy gets up to leave because he thinks that she isn't going to say anything.

"You have to tell Reyna," she says. "I'll go with you if you want me to."

He shakes his head, "I just need to get my head together. Thanks though."

She nods and turns back around so he can't see her face when she speaks, "Be careful, Percy. Don't do anything stupid."

Ω

Percy finds Reyna standing with Frank and Blake. He stops a few paces from her, and she sends them off with a nod before stepping over to Percy's side.

Her dark eyes roam his face and down his body urgently, checking to see if he's okay, and Percy feels like something is burying him right now and he needs to get out of here and and and—

"Is everything alright, Percy?" She asks, reaching out toward him.

Percy takes a step back from her. "I'm going on a supply run."

She freezes, but her eyes meet his immediately, burning her gaze into his. There's a calm look on her face, the one that she uses to talk to other people who are being crazy. It makes Percy want to flinch, but he can't handle this. He needs a few hours to get out of here and get some _space—_

"And what makes you think that?" She asks in a cold voice. Her eyes are narrowed now, and she looks like she did the other night when she was talking to Brad and Percy can't think straight anymore.

He turns and walks away from her because he's not dealing with this. He's going, and she can't stop him.

"Percy," she calls. "You're _not_ leaving this goddamn camp."

"Okay," he answers, walking down the street without turning to look at her.

A few seconds later, Percy feels someone grab his arm, and he winces when she jerks him around and fists his t-shirt.

"I'm being serious," she growls at him, baring her teeth.

"Fine."

She stares at him for a few seconds, and Percy stares back, ignoring the hammering in his chest and how nervous she's making him right now. Eventually, she drops his shirt, and Percy turns away from her again.

He can feel her gaze on his back until he gets to the apartment building and turns to go inside. Once the door closes behind him, he jogs down the hall to his room and throws the door open. He already had his backpack packed with the supplies he needed, but now, he grabs everything that belongs to him that's worth carrying and shoves it down into his bag.

There's a knock on his door, and Percy has time to slide his backpack under his bed and sit down on the edge of it before the door opens.

Percy pulls his shirt over his head as Reyna comes in, and she stops in the doorway. She's still scowling, but she looks confused now.

"What are you doing?" She asks. Percy doesn't miss the way her eyes flicker down to the scar on his side.

"You said I couldn't leave, so I'm taking a nap," he lies, kicking off his shoes and laying back on his bed.

She hesitates for a few seconds before saying, "Percy—"

Percy rolls over onto his side and reaches up to touch Annabeth's necklace where is rests against his skin. The only thing he wants right now is _her._ His voice is rough when he says, "Get out, Reyna."

She goes without another word, and Percy counts to seventy-five before he gets up and grabs his shoes and shirt. He gets his backpack out again, rechecks his supplies and tosses it over his shoulder before silently slipping out of the door.

Thankfully, no one is in the hall, and he makes it out of the backdoor without anyone noticing him. He just—he needs to get away from this. He can't handle this anymore. He can't—

Percy starts to climb up the wall from the garden where he used to meet Reyna and Frank for debriefings when they would allow him.

"Percy!"

He freezes and turns around to see Hazel standing behind him. Her eyes are wide, but she looks calm. She's holding a rifle, and for a split second, Percy thinks that Reyna sent her out here to shoot him and leave him for the walkers too.

He drops down from the wall slowly, turning around to stand in front of her.

"Where are you going?" She asks.

"I'm leaving," he says quietly. "I can't handle being here anymore. I thought… I thought that I could deal with it. Learn to live with Reyna, but I… I keep having nightmares about it."

Hazel flinches. "I do too, but you can't just… Don't leave us."

Percy feels like he's about to cry. "I can't stay here."

There's two seconds of silence before Hazel lefts the rifle drop to the ground and tosses her arms around him. She clings to him for a few seconds, and by the time she pushes back from him, there are tears running down her face.

"I get it," she whispers. "They can be… too much. Too much to handle."

"Come with me," he says. If _he_ can't handle it, how on Earth is Hazel managing? How can she sleep without hearing the way Brad screamed while Reyna and Frank just _walked away?_ How—?

She shakes her head. "I can't. I can't leave Frank. Even if… I can't leave him here."

Percy hesitates, "If you change your mind. I'll wait at the subdivision ten miles west of here until tomorrow night. Then I'm gone, okay?"

She nods and leans down to pick up the rifle. "I got this for you. It's supposed to be loaded, but you should probably find some more ammo soon."

He takes it and carefully slings it across his back. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Percy," Hazel whispers. "I just can't leave him."

"Yeah," he nods, biting back tears at the thoughts of leaving Reyna. But then the image of her holding a gun up to Brad's knees and turning her back on him rips through his mind, and he flinches again. "I get it. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Hazel nods again before stepping back and toward the door. "I'll tell Reyna that I haven't seen you, and I'll lie about the gun."

"Hazel, I'm sorry."

"Just be careful, okay? And if you want to come back someday…"

He smiles lightly, "I'll find you."

She smiles through her tears, "Bye, Percy. Good luck."

"You too, Hazel."

Percy watches as she disappears through the door, and then he starts to climb up the wall. He takes a quick glance over the camp before dropping down onto the other side and jogging through the woods. He doesn't look back, and he shoves the tears off of his face before tightening his jacket around his shoulders.

Ω

It doesn't get easier to breathe when he gets away from the camp. In fact, it feels like it gets _worse._ He's constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure that no one is following him or that there aren't any walkers around. He's had his finger on the trigger of his rifle ever since he dropped down onto the other side of the wall, and he can't stop shaking. He doesn't know what's wrong with him.

It's been almost a week since he left. He told Hazel that he would only wait at the subdivision for two days, but he ends up staying there a lot longer, like he was expecting her to show up eventually. When Percy realizes that she isn't, he gets up and scouts for a car after gathering some supplies.

He's hotwired the car, and he's made it about twenty minutes from the subdivision when he hears, "What are you doing, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy is so shocked at the voice that he slams on the brakes and stops in the middle of the deserted road.

His lungs catch and his heart stops beating in his chest when he turns to see Annabeth sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

She looks so beautiful—her golden curls are bright in the sunlight, and her gray eyes are sparkling. There's a small smile on her face, but she looks serious as she stares at him.

Percy is already crying, and when he reaches out to touch her, his hand slips right through hers.

"Annabeth," he sobs, letting his head drop down against the steering wheel repeatedly. He thinks that he hears the horn sound, but he doesn't care. "I can't do this anymore. I want to die. I want to die. _Please."_

"Percy, look at me," she says gently. Her voice doesn't shake, and Percy wants to be brave like her.

He looks up at her through his tears. " _Please_. I want to be with you."

"Not yet, Seaweed Brain," she says fiercely. "You aren't finished living."

"I was finished the day you died," he cried, dropping his head back to the steering wheel again. The horn sounds.

"What about Reyna? Are you just going to leave her there on her own?"

"You saw what she did, Annabeth! What if she—!"

Her voice is calm. "What if she what, Percy?"

He whispers, "What if she lets that happen to me?"

"Percy," Annabeth says softly. Her gray eyes are wide and clear, and he's never seen anything so beautiful. "Reyna loves you. She would never let anything bad happen to you, just like I don't."

He hiccups as he struggles to get his breath back, "Are you… are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, Percy."

There's a second of silence, and Percy's chest burns when he takes a deep breath.

"Do I have to go back?" He asks, peeking up at her.

The sunlight frames her face as she nods. "You need to. You belong there."

He nods too, "That's what I thought."

Percy shivers when she laughs softly, and he stares at her. She must be reading his mind like normal because her voice sounds like she's singing to him when she says, "I miss you too, Percy, and I'm _always_ with you."

He nods again, letting out a deep breath. There's a hard knock on the window, and when Percy turns away from Annabeth to look, he jumps when he sees the walkers crowded outside of the car.

Percy jerks his gaze back to Annabeth, but she's gone. He curses and grabs his backpack and rifle from the backseat before breaking the glass of the sunroof and pulling himself up through the opening. The walkers all reach up for him, and Percy stands on top of the car, shooting the walkers in the head until he can jump down from the hood of the car.

And his chest feels lighter than it has in _weeks._ He can breathe now, and when he thinks about going back _home,_ his heart starts pounding in excitement.

"Thank you, Annabeth," he breathes, titling his eyes up toward the sky.

Her voice is a whisper on the wind, _you're welcome, Seaweed Brain._

Ω

Percy makes it back to Camp in less than an hour. After killing all of the walkers, he had been able to get back in the car and drive the rest of the way home.

And after talking to Annabeth, his heart feels better. Reyna would never hurt him. She loves him, and she wouldn't let anything bad happen to him.

Percy feels his face blush when he thinks about her. She's probably been going through hell since he's been gone, wondering where he is and what she could have done differently to make him stay. She's probably going to _kill_ him when she does see him, but all Percy can think about is seeing the look on her face when she sees him again.

The first thing that Percy sees when he pulls up at Camp is the gate hanging open. There are walkers trickling out of the woods toward the open gate, and there are several cars littering the road right in front of Camp. Percy recognizes the black SUV that Octavian took when he left Camp that day.

Blood rushes in Percy's ears, and he slams on the brakes, swerving to a stop in the middle of the road. He grabs his rifle and backpack before jumping out of the car and aiming for the walkers that are getting too close to the gate.

Percy freezes when he sees Reyna kneeling on the ground right in front of the open gate. There's a gun pressed to her head.

 _"_ _Where is the new camp?"_ Octavian is standing over her, yelling down at her while pressing the gun harder against head. He's sneering at her now, and Percy can't really see straight because he's so _mad._

He pulls his rifle up and squeezes down the trigger, but something knocks the barrel to the left so he misses Octavian. Percy rolls to the ground and shoots the walker that attacked him through the head before getting back to his feet.

"Jackson!" Octavian howls. "Don't make another step or I'll blow her brains out!"

Reyna is looking up at him now. She looks relieved to see him again, and as Percy gets back to his feet, her shoulders slump and Percy can see her sigh. Her mouth moves, but she's too far away and she's not speaking loudly enough for Percy to hear her.

And she just—she looks _awful._ There's a cut on her cheek that's bleeding, and her eye is starting to bruise from where someone hit her. Her bottom lip is busted too, and her hair is starting to fall out of its braid.

Percy takes a step forward instinctively, and Octavian starts to squeeze down the trigger.

"Stop!" Percy screams. His voice breaks, and he drops to his knees. "Take me. Take me instead."

"Percy—" Reyna starts to object. Her voice is stronger now, and he can hear the warning in her tone telling him to _stop_.

He can't stand to see this. He can't handle it. He would rather die right now than watch Reyna die. He doesn't think he can go through anything like that ever again.

"Reyna won't let you die, will she, Jackson?" Octavian muses, staring at him in amusement. "I guess I'll have to get the information I need that way. Walk forward until I tell you to stop. If you try _anything,_ she dies."

Percy nods and climbs back to his feet. Octavian lets him get close enough to them that he can see how bad the bruises on Reyna's face and neck are. She's scowling now, but her eyes are wide and she hasn't stopped staring at him since he came back.

"Get on your knees," Octavian snarls.

Percy makes eye contact with Reyna when he starts to lower himself to the ground. She looks like she's trying to tell him something, and Percy doesn't have time to shake his head before he sees her body tense up.

Reyna jerks her head backwards, and Percy screams as the gun goes off.

But there's no blood. Reyna's eyes are still open, and she stumbles on her feet for a few seconds, obviously dizzy from the sound of the gun exploding in her ear. Octavian is yelling something as he turns and aims at her again, but Percy lunges forward and knocks him to the ground.

Percy knocks the gun out of Octavian's hands, but then hands are tugging at his shoulders and he looks up to see a walker reaching down to bite his arm.

He jerks away, rolling over Octavian and pulling his body up to use it as a shield. Percy pushes himself away from Octavian and stumbles back into something else.

But this time it's Reyna. She's clutching her side with one hand, but she reaches up with her other and grabs his shoulder and starts pulling. Her slings an arms around her waist, and she lets out a shriek of pain as they start to run back toward the gate.

Percy isn't sure what happens to Octavian. All he knows is that they left him without a weapon surrounded by walkers.

Reyna is struggling to stay on her feet now, even with Percy's help, but when he has to let go so he can get the gate closed, one of Octavian's guys runs into them and pulls out a gun. Before Percy can do anything, Reyna puts her gun against his forehead and pulls the trigger. He collapses into a pile, and they step over him to make room for the walkers that are starting to surround the body.

 _"_ _Frank!"_ Reyna roars when they make it inside the walls. Percy lets go of her so he can pull the gate back, and she stands in the middle of the opening, firing her weapon at any of the walkers that get too close to them.

Just as Percy is closing the gate, he sees Frank and a few others sprint out into the street. He looks relieved to see Reyna alive, and even more relieved when he spots Percy.

"Percy—?" He starts, raising both eyebrows.

"Later," Reyna says. "Get snipers on the wall now. If the walkers get inside, we'll be overwhelmed."

"You're injured," Frank says before turning to Blake. "Get her down to Gwen—"

"Gwen's dead," Reyna growls, ripping the bottom half of her tank top off and tying it around her side as a makeshift bandage. "Found her walking down the street with a knife in her back. We take care of this now. I'm fine."

She looks too enraged to argue with, so Percy stays silent. He takes a rifle when Blake holds one out to him, and he's the first one to climb up onto the wall to start shooting the walkers.

When they get the crowd thinned, Percy watches as Reyna hauls herself over the wall and drops down onto the other side. Her jaw is clenched tightly, and he can see a trail of blood cutting down her side and staining her pants.

She's yelling and screaming and using her sword to cut down the rest of the walkers, and Percy signals for the snipers to stop shooting. Percy takes a deep breath and climbs down from the wall. Blake opens to gate for him, and Percy steps outside toward Reyna.

She cuts down the last walker, standing over it to stomp its head with her foot. When she finally stops and turns back around, Percy is waiting for her.

She stares at him for a few minutes. They're standing several feet apart, and Reyna is looking at him with a blank expression. Her sword is loose in her hand, and her jaw is clenched.

"You should come inside," Percy says, trying to make his voice soft.

"You left," she says.

Percy nods, "I'm back now."

"Are you? Or are you going to leave again the next time it gets tough?" She asks. Percy thinks that she means it as an insult, but her voice is so tired it sounds like an honest question.

"I'm not leaving again," he says. "I'm here for good. I'm with you."

She opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, Frank interrupts them.

He runs through the gate and shouts, "Percy! You're back! Where's Hazel?"

"Hazel?" Percy asks, turning around to see him. Frank runs forward and squeezes him in a hug before he moves over to stand at Reyna's shoulder.

"She left a few days after you," Frank says. His eyes are wide. "So where is she? Did she already go inside? Is she—?"

Percy feels his heart drop. "Hazel didn't come with me."

"She went to find you," Reyna says.

"You haven't seen her?" Frank asks. His voice sounds a bit more breathless now, and Percy doesn't know what to say.

He shakes his head, "No, I told her where I would be and how long I would be there in case she wanted to come with me, but I stayed there for a week and never saw her. I've been barely fifteen miles away from Camp."

Reyna and Frank stare at him for a few seconds before they exchange a glance.

Frank's voice squeaks when he says, "Then if she's not with you, where is she?"

Before anyone can say anything else, another crowd of walkers stumbles up onto the road from the trees.

The three of them stand at each other's shoulders and get ready for the walkers. The crowd isn't a large size, and they have probably just been drawn by the noise that the guns were making. It's better to deal with them quietly instead of drawing more into the area.

As the crowd gets out onto the street, Percy walks forward to meet the front ones, using his knife to stab them in the head. Reyna takes care of the walkers that try to slip behind Percy's back, and Frank takes the other side on his own, killing all of them before they get past them and into the gates of Camp.

Just as Percy stabs his last walker in the head and lets the body drop to the ground, he hears Frank scream.

His first thought is that he's been bitten, and Percy's heart is already racing in his chest as he whips around but Frank is kneeling on the ground, staring up at the last walker and screaming and crying and—

 _"_ _Frank!"_ Reyna screams, killing two more walkers before running toward him. "Get up! That's not her! _That's not her_! _Get_ _up!"_

It takes Percy two seconds to realize what's going on. He crumbles to his knees too.

"Percy!" Reyna yells, sprinting over to Frank, who's still on the ground. "Get inside!"

He watches as the gray body stumbles toward Frank. It's short, and its familiar curly hair is tangled together in knots. There's several nasty bite wounds on its arms, and Percy can't stand to look anymore.

But he can't look away. Frank is sobbing now, and when it gets close to him, he shoves it away, screaming the name that used to belong to the body.

Reyna makes it, and she steps in between the walker and Frank. There are tears running down her face, and she's struggling to catch her breath too. Her hands shake as she pulls out a handgun and aims. Reyna waits until the walker stumbles into the gun, and her voice wobbles when she says, "I'm sorry, Hazel."

Frank screams when she pulls the trigger.

Reyna stumbles to the side and drops her gun. She's crying too, and she presses one of her hands to her chest, like she's trying to claw her heart out.

Frank tosses his body on top of Hazel's. He's sobbing and clutching at Hazel's body, and Percy can't breathe.

He doesn't realize that more walkers have stumbled out onto the road until he hears the guns. He looks up, and the snipers on top of the wall are shooting the walkers as they get closer to them.

Percy stumbles to his feet and runs toward Reyna and Frank. Reyna flinches when he sets his hand on her shoulder, and when she looks up at him with her unfocused eyes, Percy realizes that she's still injured. Really bad. They need to get inside right _now._

"Get Frank inside," Percy chokes out, struggling to speak through his tears. "I'll get Hazel."

She nods and starts to tug at Frank's shoulder, but it takes both of them to get him to let go of Hazel and stagger to his feet. Reyna looks like she can barely stand on her own, but she drags Frank toward the gates, stopping to pick up her sword and gun. Blake runs out to meet her, and he helps her get Frank inside.

Percy stares down at Hazel's face and reaches down to pick her up. He carries her inside and carefully sets her down on the concrete once the gate is closed.

When Percy turns around to find Reyna, the only thing he can see is Frank.

His face is twisted into a snarl, " _You_ caused this."

It's true, so Percy doesn't say anything.

Percy can hear Reyna screaming something, but then Frank pulls his fist back and Percy falls to the ground with the force of Frank's punch.

The world is spinning, and Percy can see Reyna hovering over him now, but there's blood leaking into his eyes and Frank is still crying and Reyna is yelling for something and it's just too much to handle.

Percy's eyes close, and he doesn't know if he ever wants to open them again.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review!**

 **-SomethingMoreCreative**


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